Are You Jealous Yet?
by ShadowingPassion9532
Summary: After leaving Wu, Ce and Yu are the last people the Qiaos want to see, but fate had other plans. Will old feelings come back? Or will the new ones be permanent?
1. Chapter 1

_**Are You Jealous Yet??**_

**Well, this story came to me when I was in a theater watching a couple fight. I thought that this would be cool, but the jealousy stuff doesn't come till later chapters. **

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"It's tonight, Xiao!" Da Qiao said as she put her dress and gloves on her bed. A huge ball was scheduled for tonight. But it wasn't just _a_ ball, is was _the _ball. The Annual New Years Invitational Ball. Everyone from all around China came to this ball, and this year it was Wu's turn to host it. Sun Jian entrusted the Qiaos to make the invitations and they were all sent out as of last month. 

"I know!" said an excited Xiao Qiao as she too put her dress and gloves on Da's bed. Da and Xiao's dresses matched perfectly. Da's dress was a blue satin with white, thin swirls all around it. It had white gloves that came with it, and they were made of silk. Xiao's dress was a white satin with blue swirls around it. The blue swirls matched the blue in Da's dress and her gloves were blue instead of the white like Da's. The girls had these dresses made personally by the manor's couriers. They wanted to match and show their appreciation to Lord Sun Jian for letting them stay there. But Da wanted to impress the prince more that thank Sun Jian. 

Da and Sun Ce had been a couple for about two months now and Da really wanted to impress him at the ball tonight. They had never kissed before, but that never crossed Da's mind that it was a problem. Xiao Qiao and Zhou Yu had been a couple for almost a month and were enjoying every minute of each other's time. 

"You will look good in this, my lady." said Da's maid, Hula Ran. Hula was tall and had brown hair that she always kept in braids. 

"Thank you, Hula. I am greatly in your debt for helping me so." Da said and smiled gratefully at Hula.

"You will look good in your dress also!" said Xiao Qiao's maid, Taka Chen. Taka Chen always left her hair in two buns on either side of her head. She was only a little shorter that Hula, but her stoutness made up for that. The Qiaos had these maids since they were twelve and loved then like second mothers. 

Xiao Qiao jumped up and hugged her, "Thank you, Taka!" 

"We have a little surprise for the both of you." Da said as she walked over to her closet. She proceeded to pull out two cards and gave one to each of the maids. 

"My lady, you didn't have to do this." said Hula as she read the card. It was a gift card that stated that each maid would go to the village and get a massage while the ball was going on. 

"But we wanted to! We know that we can be a hassle, and we wanted to thank you for being so good!" Xiao said, pleased with the look that each maid had on their face. 

"Thank you Lady Xiao." said Taka while she looked at Hula. The two maids have become friends while they watched over the Qiaos. 

The Qiaos hugged their maids then got down to business, "How should we do our hair?" asked Xiao. 

Both of the maids looked at each other and smiled, "Well," started Taka. "May we make a suggestion?"

Both of the Qiaos looked at each other and nodded to their maids.

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"Do you have everything picked out, Ce?" asked Zhou Yu while he and his sworn brother, Sun Ce were sparing. 

"Yep, from my socks to my hair ribbon!" he said as he struck his tonfa, only to hit Zhou Yu's sword. 

"Do you expect to dance with Lady Da tonight?"

"Yes, and I expect to take her to the fountain tonight." He said smiling at the thought of dancing with Da Qiao. 

"Ooh the fountain. Sounds like it's pretty serious." Zhou said as Ce tried to strike another blow. 

"Nah, we've never had anything serious ever happen before." Ce stated. "Why are you so curious anyway?" 

"Just wondering."

Ce stopped what he was doing and looked at Zhou Yu "I don't know what to do, Zhou. I love Da, but I don't know how to show it to her." 

Zhou Yu walked over and put an arm on his sworn brother's shoulder. "Worry about that later, for it isn't the time to worry, but to celebrate!. Tonight we celebrate the glorious coming of a new age!" 

Sun Ce grinned, "Yeah! We rule this year, right Zhou?"

"Right indeed!" Zhou said as he swung his sword at Ce.

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Xiao Qiao sat on Da's balcony and looked at the receding sun as it held its face beneath the clouds. Its shy face was hiding from the younger Qiao's beauty. It seemed awfully quiet. The ball was three hours away and every available maid was summoned to help with the concessions. Taka and Hula decided to stay with the Qiaos to help them get ready. 

"Why are you out here, my sister?" Da Qiao asked coming from the chamber. 

The younger Qiao didn't answer.

"Is there something bothering you, Xiao?" Da asked in pure concern.

"Da, I don't really think I know how to dance." Xiao Qiao confessed as she looked once more at the darkening sky. 

Da Qiao laughed, "Is that all that is troubling you?"

Xiao looked at Da in shock. Wasn't this an important matter?

"You know how to dance, Xiao. You and I took numerous lessons!" Da said trying to comfort her worried sister.

"But I'm not sure I remember how."

"Do you want us to practice?"

"Could we?" Xiao asked filling her dark spell lift up.

"Of course, but only for a little bit. We need to be getting ready! Besides, I want to see what hairstyles our ladies came up for us. "

"Okay! I promise that this won't take but a minute." Xiao said as she and Da took to a dancing position. 

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The time came when Ce and Yu had to be present at the ball. Ce studied himself in the mirror. He hadn't seen Da Qiao all day and was yearning to catch even a glimpse of her at the ball. 

"Are you ready?' asked Zhou Yu popping from the door.

"Yeah!" Ce said as he slipped on his last boot and went out the door. 

The ball was perfectly set up and Ce couldn't realize that this was the same hall that he dined in every day. He was in awe even before he noticed the tiger sculpted in ice that dispended punch. He looked to the ceiling and noticed that the old chandelier had been replaced by a huge glass one. There were banners of the Wu signature on all sides of the new chandelier and they hung like they were alive and proud. He looked at the many pictures of his ancestors when Sun Jian came up to him.

"What do you think of it son?" The lord asked as Ce was looking around.

"Is this the same place?" Ce asked still in awe as he kept finding new things to be dazzled by. 

Sun Jian laughed heartily, "Yes, son, it is." Sun Jian looked around at his work and smiled proudly. "Ah, the guests are arriving!" He said and he and Ce walked over to greet the guests. 

"Good evening, Lord Zhuge Liang." Sun Jian said as the noble strategist entered the doors. 

"Good evening, Lord Sun. And good evening to all Highnesses." He said as he bowed before the Sun family. 

"I pray you had a pleasant journey over here." Sun Jian said.

"One most comforting. Good evening to you, Lord Zhou Yu." Zhuge said as he rose from his bow.

"Good evening to you too." Yu said as he bowed in his respects. "I hope that your stay here will be a pleasant one."

"How could it not? The Lord has out done himself on this one." Zhuge remarked looking around at the beautiful scenery. 

"I thank you for your comment with good graces." Sun Jian said as he bowed. Zhuge Liang went through and kissed Sun Shang Xiang's hand and bowed to Sun Ce and Sun Quan. His wife soon entered and followed in her husband's footsteps.

After all the guests have been greeted, Sun Jian was about to excuse his children as something caught his eye, and breath.

"Of all my planning, I could never come up in anything that will ever shadow the beauties coming from the stairs." Sun Jian said. His children turned their heads to what he was referring to. 

They all stared as the Two Qiaos came from the stairs arm-in-arm. They had on their matching dresses with their long hair coming down in long strings of intricate curls. As they moved, the dresses moved with them, fitting snuggly to their every curve. They had glitter on the visible amount of skin that reflected the light as they moved downward to their destination. 

The entire body of guests turned and stared, unable to move against the forces that kept their eyes focused on the two emerging beauties. 

Zhou Yu was the first to come out of his trance, followed by Ce. They both moved and took the Qiao's hands as they reached the floor.

"You look dazzling." Zhou said as he escorted Xiao to the tiger to get some punch. She giggled and blushed slightly as Zhou stared at her. But how could he not? He was the luckiest man ever to have such a beauty at his side. 

"I tried to look good for you." She exclaimed as he handed her a cup of punch.

"Is that so?" he asked, smiling at the fact that she tried to impress him when all she had to do was smile and she would do that!

"Um hmm." She said as she put the sake to her lips. 

He, in turn, put his hands gently on her face and kissed her forehead. She blushed and looked at the floor smiling. 

The orchestra started to play and Zhou Yu extended his arm to Xiao, "Would you like to dance?"

"Oh yes!" she said as she dropped her cup on a nearby table and took his arm.

They entered the dance floor and were greeted by the already dancing couple of Ce and Da.

"How are ya'll doing?" Ce asked as he and Da slowed their pace so that they could chat.

"Fairly well." Zhou Yu answered. Da Qiao looked at Xiao and saw that she was dancing magnificently. Da had already known that as Xiao would get on the dance floor, she would dance well despite her fears.

"Well, I'm sure my Qiao could use a drink." Ce said and he and Da danced to an edge and quickly got off being careful not to get hit by the oncoming dancers. 

"Do you want ice in it?" Ce asked as they neared the tiger. 

"No thank you." She answered. "Your father outdid himself on this, Ce." Da said as she looked around.

"I know. It looks great." He said as the tiger filled the cup with punch.

He handed her the cup and escorted her to a table where Sun Jian and the other regional lords sat. He carefully chose her a seat beside him and sat down. Clearly the lords were arguing about something. They were fusing at one another in disagreement.

"Let us ask the woman among us. She would surely know." Cao Cao said as the entire table turned around to Da.

"Da Qiao," Sun Jian started. "Do you think that the people should be without a Lord?"

Da looked at the table for a second before replying, "Let us say that there are two tigers." she started. "One in a cage, one not. The one in the cage is named 'Destruction', the other one 'Peace'. If we let the Destruction one out of its cage, we let all fire come to Peace. So if we let the people out of their cages, we only will disrupt the peace that has momentarily come to us." As Da finished, all the men stared at her disbelievingly. They didn't know that one woman knew and was full of such wisdom. Even Ce was astounded. 

"Bravo!" Sun Jian said as he stood up and applauded Da Qiao. The rest followed and Da looked at the floor blushing. 

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Xiao Qiao sat on a long couch and signed. This was just too boring. She turned as familiar figures approached. She felt her stomach turn into a knot when she realized who it was. It was none other that the nasty court ladies whom Xiao tried her hardest to stay away from. It was Lady Kun and Lady Shen being lead by none other that the meanest one of them all, Lady Dannai.

"Oh, why mush you be coming over to our usual sitting place and filling it up with your barbarian filth?" asked Lady Dannai. 

"Oh, so that would explain it." Xiao said.

"Explain what?" Lady Dannai asked.

"Why no one would sit over here." Xiao said with a defiant smile.

"And why would they not?" asked Lady Shen.

"Because all of your fat bottoms have broken the springs." Xiao said, pleased with the mad face on all the lady's faces.

"I say!" Lady Kun said, finally getting a word in edgewise. "Take that back!"

"She will do no such thing!" called a firm voice behind them. They turned around to see Zhou Yu. "You witches deserve that comment to the fullest extent! You try to torment my Xiao because she's prettier that any of you will ever be because she's pure at heart." Zhou said, causing the "witches" to gasp. "You do not even deserve bowing down and kissing her feet. You have already kissed many men's feet, and other parts." Zhou said.

"You are being unusually crude!" Lady Dannai said. "This is not how you treat a lady!"

"And I suppose you and your posse of women are demonstrating a fine example of how to do that by treating Xiao like you do?" He countered. He then signed and looked at Lady Dannai, "Lady Dannai, what could've happened between us is no more." He said referring to his and Lady Dannai's relationship before Xiao came. "Besides, I don't want a woman who teases people who are above and prettier than her." 

At this, Lady Dannai gasped and ran out of the ball wailing. 

"Come, Xiao. You deserve to be in the presence of royalty, not it's wannabe." He said as he took her hand and escorted the pleased Xiao onto the dance floor, but not before Xiao turned around and stuck out her tongue at the dumbstruck court ladies.

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Da Qiao was having a pleasant conversation with a lady whom she had just met. Lady Yue Ying was her name and by the way she talked, she was quite intelligent. 

Sun Ce came up and put an arm around Da Qiao, "Would you care to join me outside?" He asked smiling at her. 

"Not at all!" Da said. "Excuse me Lady Yue Ying." She said as they bowed to each other in respect and went their separate ways. 

Da was escorted to a patio with a huge fountain in the middle. You could hear the music here, and the way that the moon hung above them made Da feel like this was a dream.

Ce went over to the fountain and dipped his fingers in the warm water. 

"You look very beautiful tonight." Ce said as he dried his fingers on his leggings and looked at Da.

"Thank you." She said shyly. He walked over to her and put his arms around her waist. She smiled up at him and felt her cheeks grow hot. 

"Dance with me." He told her.

"Out here?" she asked confused.

"Why not?"

"Why out here?" she countered.

He smiled and looked at the star spattered sky, "I hate it when the people in there look at you." He said.

She looked down for a moment before taking his hand and ushering him to dance. 

As they waltzed, Da Qiao could've sworn this was a dream. To her, it seemed like no one existed but her and Ce. She felt like they were dancing on the clouds and the moon was their only light in this blissful moment. She felt like she could fly off at any moment and never touch the floor again. 

"Ce," she whispered, "this feels like a dream."

"Then don't wake up." He said as he pulled her close. She felt all her fears melt away when he did this. The fear of the impending war, fears of how her mother and father were doing. Just everything. For that moment, that peaceful, happy, moment, she had thought that time itself had stopped. 

"I love you so much, Da!" she heard Sun Ce say.

She turned to him and then looked down at the floor. He panicked for a second when she didn't answer. But she rose up with tears in her eyes and whispered: "I have done everything, my dress, and the invitations, to please you."

He put his forehead to hers and wiped away a tear from her cheek. "You don't have to please me, Da. Just being with you pleases me to no end!" 

As much as she tried, she couldn't stop the ever flowing tears. She looked into his deep eyes and held her breath as he cupped her chin and pulled her lips to his. Da felt her mind soar and she was surprised at his actions. She slowly gave in and eased up at his touch. She returned his kiss as her eyes fluttered shut. She wrapped her arms around his neck and inhaled his scent and taste. This was no doubt the best moment of her life.

They pulled away from each other at the sound of fireworks crackling above them. They looked up as a big red one explode into a heart.

"I take that as a sign." Ce said as he put his forehead back to hers. He slowly rocked her back and forth as she smiled. He would definitely remember this exact spot where they had their first kiss.

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"They're so pretty, aren't they Zhou?" asked Xiao Qiao staring in awe at the many colors of the fireworks before her. She waved a Wu flag in her hands and smiled. Other people waved their own countries flags. 

"Not as pretty as the site before me." Zhou said as he turned to Xiao. She blushed and looked at the ground. He turned back to the fireworks and watched as they lit up the nighttime sky. He turned to Xiao when she poked at his shoulder. She stood on her tippy toes and kissed his cheek. She searched his face for approval and was shocked when he leaned down and kissed her lips. She immediately dropped her flag and put her hands to his face as he wrapped his arms around her waist. 

She never knew that kissing would send such a feeling through her that stole her breath in such little time. He lifted her up to his height and kept the kiss going. She tasted so right to him and he never wanted this moment to end. 

He put her down as the need to breathe arose. They both withdrew and smiled at each other. He looked towards to the colorful sky, then down to his beauty.

"I will remember this as the best New Years ball ever." He told her. She smiled sweetly at him and turned to the lit sky.

"What wonders do you think this year holds for us, Zhou?" she asked him.

"New love." He answered her and slowly caressed he cheek. She looked at the floor blushing and smiling with excitement at their new level of relationship.

All the guests around them stared in envy at the loving site before them.

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After many more fireworks and a few more glasses of punch, the guests were leaving. This time, the entire Wu occupants came to see them off. 

As the last guests went off in their carriage, Sun Jian signed out a breath of relief. "It was a great ball, but I'm glad that it's over." he said. Everyone agreed with him and went to the grand staircase to go to their apartments. 

"Did you guys have a great time?" Shang Xiang asked as she caught up to Xiao and Da on the stairs.

"Yes." The Qiaos said in unison. 

"Did you, Shang?" Da asked teasingly. She had caught the princess mingling with the Lord of Shu earlier.

"Me? Nah." Shang said.

"Oh, but we saw you mingling with a certain Lord Liu Bei!" Xiao Qiao said unable to contain the giddiness welling within her.

"Must've been another girl." Shang said as they continued to ascend the flight of stairs. 

"Oh no, it was you." Da said and nudged her friend. "Do you like him, Shang?" 

"Oh, never! I don't want a husband thank you." The Princess said defiantly. 

"So you're saying that if you dance and flirt with someone, it's not a crush?" Xiao asked.

"No." Shang said. 

"So me and Zhou Yu are only friends?!" Xiao Qiao asked to get on Shang's nerves. 

Shang responded to this by hurrying up the stairs and through the many hallways towards her room. The Qiaos started to laugh and began to hurry after their friend when Sun Ce and Zhou Yu appeared. 

"And what would two lovely beauties be doing without an escort?" Zhou Yu asked. "Ce, I believe we should be like gentlemen and escort these ladies to their rooms."

"Indeed we shall." Ce said as he extended his arm to Da. 

"Xiao, do you know where the gentlemen are?" Da asked looking past Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

Xiao Qiao giggled at Da's teasing and went along. "No, Da, I don't."

"Alright, we get the memo." Ce said.

The Qiaos giggled and took their men's arms and walked up the steps.

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"Night, Xiao." Da said as the two couples separated. Da's and Xiao's rooms were on separate hallways thus causing the separation of the couples. 

"Night, Da!" Xiao said waving to her sister.

"Did you have a good time tonight?" Xiao asked Zhou as soon as their farewells were through.

"A very good one." He said. Xiao let her hand slip from Zhou's arm, to his hand. 

She smiled and couldn't resist the urge to ask: "Is that because we kissed, or because you got to see the fireworks?"

"See the fireworks." He teased. 

"…" Xiao's mouth gaped.

"I'm just joking! I loved it because I got to kiss you." He said as her familiar smile came back. 

She smiled as they stopped at her door and turned to Zhou, "I guess I'll see you in the morning."

"Indeed you will." He said. He lifted Xiao's hand gently and, his gaze never leaving her eyes, kissed it gently. He then pulled Xiao close and kissed her lips just as gently as he kissed her hand. After a moment, he pulled away and marched down the corridors to his room. He knew that if he didn't leave, he would be bound by the irresistible spell that the younger Qiao gave that always seemed to keep him wanting more. 

The younger Qiao watched her Romeo turn a corner and disappear. She put her hands gently to her lips and started to daydream about him. She danced into her room and began to prepare for bed. She told Taka everything that happened, and went to bed even though she was too excited to sleep.

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"Wanna go horseback ridding tomorrow?" Sun Ce asked Da Qiao as they were walking towards her door.

"That sounds lovely." Da commented, smiling. 

"You don't want to go do you?" he asked her.

"Of course I do! Whatever made you think I didn't?" She asked curiously.

"Nothing," Ce said as they stopped at her door. "just the sound of your voice."

"I was just saying that it sounded very lovely. I would love to go ridding with you Ce. It would be nice…" her talking was interrupted by Ce rolling his eyes and pulling her into a kiss. 

"So," Ce said in a teasing manner. "do you want to go horseback ridding?" 

Da nodded and began to smile with just the same teasing way that Ce had, "Only if you kiss me again." He answered her by putting his lips to hers and sealing the deal. 

He pulled away and shook his head, "I would keep kissing you Da, but then I would want to come in your room with you, and I just can't imagine being with something as beautiful as you." He said as he rubbed his hand against her cheek. 

"I'll see you tomorrow then." She said as she turned toward the door. She turned back to him then opened the door. "Good night." She said as she entered her room. 

After she closed the door, Ce whistled. 

"YES!!" He whispered as he went down the hallway, dancing to his own chambers. 

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**Well, the jealousy part doesn't happen till later chapters. But I NEED reviews! I would love to hear all of your opinions! I'm sure you guys know how it goes! R&R!**


	2. Unexpected Arrival

**Hey! I want to thank everyone who's reviewed so far: Shadow-Flower-76, FleetingSparrow, Paupu, LotusoftheMoon, JeeJayMay, and QIAOGURL4146!**

**Thank you all and I want to give special thanks to Shadow-Flower-76 and JeeJayMay for additional support and info!**

**I hope you enjoy this!**

--

Xiao Qiao turned on her other side for the millionth time that night. The events at the ball were replaying in her mind like a movie. She smiled as she thought of Zhou Yu and tried her hardest to suppress the giddiness welling in her body.

She felt like she wanted to just scream in delight and run around her chamber like a horse. But Taka was in the room next door and Xiao didn't want to wake the sleeping maid.

Xiao thought she heard the distant sound of yelling but quickly dismissed it. She turned over again and decided to get out of bed and take a walk out to the balcony.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw a lightening strike and tons of men on the hills above her. She let out a gasp.

"Robbers…" she breathed. Just then, a cannon flew straight towards the castle and hit the outer wing.

She screamed as the momentum of the cannon threw her back across her wooden floor.

"Lady Xiao, where are you?"" Taka asked as she ran to Xiao. "Thank goodness you're alright! The castle seems to be under attack!"

"I've got to find Da!" Xiao said as she ran to her bed and pulled out a box. She opened it and there was her True Grace waiting for the next time it would see battle.

"My lady, you can't!" Taka protested. "What if you get hurt?"

"What could a band of robbers do?" Xiao asked her in a disbelieving voice.

"Xiao please, I don't want you hurt!" Taka said. She loved Xiao like a daughter and wasn't about to let her do this.

"I have to go." Xiao said. She pulled a sword from one of her shelves and handed it to Taka. "Take this."

"Lady Xiao, I don't know how to fight."

"Yes you do! You took marshal arts when you were a kid! You taught me a lot."

The lightening struck again and Xiao persisted. "Take it."

"What do I do with it?"

"Hide in my closet and wait till I come and get you. Don't open the doors for anyone except me, Da, Zhou, Ce, or Hula okay?"

"Yes, my lady." Taka said. Once Xiao had her mind made up, there was no stopping her.

Xiao was almost out the door, when she heard Taka speak.

"Do be careful, Xiao." She said.

"Don't worry." Xiao said. "I'll be back." She promised her then opened the door and left the maid.

"Oh, powerful gods and goddesses," she began to pray. "Please keep her safe."

XXX

Xiao ran down the familiar corridor. Her only light was the occasional lightening strike and Xiao would jump and look out the window at the mass of men below. She already knew that most of Wu's generals were already down there taking on the impeding forces with skill and ease.

Xiao had been down this hallway many times, but for the first time, she was scared to the bone in it. She thought that there were enemies behind every corner. For the first time while she was here, Xiao felt alone; alone and helpless.

"OOF!" she said as she ran into a figure. She looked up to what she thought would be a murder, and looked straight up into Da Qiao's evergreen eyes.

"Xiao Qiao!" Da said as she embraced her sister. "I thought I'd never find you!"

"I thought that I'd die before you found me!" Xiao exclaimed.

"Quickly, there's not much time! We need to get down there and help Ce and Zhou Yu. " Da said.

"Why? Where are they?" Xiao asked hysterically.

"They're out there in the front line holding them back." Da said as they began to walk.

"Holding who?"

"A band of robbers, I believe."

"Why are they attacking us?"

"I really don't know. All I know is that we need to help our men." Da said with rare determination.

"Right, we can't let them have all the fun!" Xiao said as she put her fan in the air.

The girls climbed down the grand staircase and were about to go out the door when an ambush of robbers appeared.

"An ambush!" Da yelled to Xiao.

"What do we do?" Xiao asked.

"I'll get left, you get right?" Da asked as they put their back to one another.

"OK. On three." Xiao said. "One… two…" Before Xiao could say three, two figures appeared from out of the shadows and began to slay the robbers.

The girls stared in disbelief as the two figures quickly diminished them all.

"Are you hurt?" One of them asked Xiao. His hair was jet black and he had it shaved bare on the side, but he had about an inch on top. He held a silver spear with a wide point on the bottom.

"No, I'm alright." Xiao said quickly.

"Do you mind if we ask who you are?" Da asked.

"Oh! Sorry, my name is Zian and this is my brother, Gouzhi." said the man (apparently Zian) as he pointed to the man who asked Xiao if she was alright. Zian had blonde curly hair and he carried a gold spear with a narrow point at the end.

"It is nice to meet both of you. My name is Da Qiao and this is my sister, Xiao Qiao." Da said to them.

"Ahh, the Two Qiaos. That would explain your shining beauty that captivated both of us just a minute ago." Gouzhi said to them.

"Thank you." Xiao said and bowed her head. The thunder disrupted their train of thought and Xiao jumped.

"We must go. There are numerous people coming from the mountain top, and there are people outside who need our help." Zian said to Da.

"Ce and Yu should be out there, too." Xiao said.

"You mean Sun Ce and Zhou Yu?" Gouzhi asked. The Qiaos nodded. The guys broke up into chuckles and smiles.

"We came here to see them." Zian said to the confused Qiaos.

"We were childhood friends and we wanted to surprise them." Gouzhi said.

The thunder once again let its presence known and Da fretted. "We must go and help." She said to them.

"We will accompany you two." Gouzhi said. Xiao and Da nodded and went out into the pouring outside. They could hardly see more than five feet in front of them.

"We have to find Yu and Ce." Xiao told Da.

"Find them? We can hardly see each other!" Da said. Both girls screamed and ducked as a sword came straight towards them. Both of them quickly spun and swiped at their opponent, connecting with flesh. Da turned around just in time to see the body fall.

Da and Xiao held their own for about half an hour before they got pushed back-to-back.

"What do we do, Da?" Xiao asked. The soldiers were coming closer and the lack of distance made Xiao worry.

"We push them back!" Da answered.

"How?" Xiao asked. Was her sister out of her mind?

"Do you have your musou up?" Da asked her.

"Yeah!" said Xiao. She was finally getting what Da was thinking.

"Okay, on the count of three, let's let them rip!" Da shouted.

"Alright!" Xiao said as Da began to count.

"One… Two… THREE!" Da shouted.

"Here comes trouble!" Xiao said as she began to throw people in the air with her fans. Those people were soon caught on Da's fans as they went around and around in a circular pattern in the air. The people were thrown dead on the ground, and before Xiao could finish, the other party issued a retreat. The horn blew and Xiao looked at Da's direction. The rain was coming down in small sheets and soon began to stop.

The sun came out and Xiao smiled to her sister and hugged her.

"We did it!" Xiao said to Da as they released each other.

"Da! Xiao!" Ce yelled as he and Zhou Yu ran over to them. Xiao squealed and ran over to Zhou. He picked her up and spun her around then kissed her.

"You fought so well!" he exclaimed.

"You watched me?" she asked him.

"I couldn't take my eyes off of you." He answered. She giggled as he put her down.

"We met your friends." Da said as soon as she and Ce got over to the lovely couple.

"Friends?" Ce asked her.

"Yes, Lords Gouzhi and Zian." Xiao said to Yu who had his are around her waist, even though she was dripping wet.

"Where?!" Yu and Ce asked at the same time.

Before Xiao or Da could answer, Zian and Gouzhi came up right on queue. "Sun Ce! Zhou Yu!" called Zian.

"Zian!" Ce said as his childhood friend came over and shook Ce's hand. "How've you been?"

"Good, and Gouzhi is well too." Zian said as he addressed Gouzhi standing next to him.

"Nice to see that you and Zhou Yu are in perfect health, Ce" Gouzhi said as he extended his hand to Ce. Ce shook it and laughed. "We have to keep up with our girls, right Zhou Yu?" Ce asked as they turned to Yu.

"Right you are, Ce." Yu said.

"And speaking of girls," Ce began. "this is my girlfriend…"

"Da Qiao, and that one's Xiao." Gouzhi said, motioning towards the Qiaos.

"You've met?" Ce and Yu asked in unison again.

"Well, we sort of got caught in an ambush and they helped us." Xiao said to Ce and Yu.

"I thank the both of you." Yu said. The two guests bowed, "It was an honor." They said at the same time.

Xiao turned around as she heard footsteps. Sun Jian was approaching and he didn't notice Zian or Gouzhi. "Ce, Yu, I need you two to…" He stopped as he saw what had them in a huddle.

"Why, it can't be. Zian and Gouzhi, here? Well, it must've been years since I've seen you two." He said as he walked to the group. Da and Xiao bowed and moved to where the Lord could get to them. "I hope that you will be staying."

"That was our intention, but if we came at a bad time…" Gouzhi said before he was interrupted.

"No, no, no. You can stay, and this is a great time." Sun Jian said before a messenger came to him.

"My lord, the generals want to know what it is you want them to do." The messenger stated.

Sun Jian moved so that his yells wouldn't hurt the people next to him. "Men, we have a victory over an unsuspected attack! We came out on top, and we should all congratulate ourselves." He said before he threw his sword in the air. The men's shouts were rumored to be heard even in Wei.

"Ce, Yu. I want you two to make our guests to feel at home here, so take them out and enjoy yourselves, unless you need to rest." Sun Jian said and looked around at the faces.

"I don't need to." Xiao said even though she spent half of her night fighting and the other half thinking about Yu.

"We don't." Zian and Gouzhi said.

"I don't." Ce said. "What about you, Da?" he said to his girlfriend.

"I don't need to rest, but I need a change of clothes!" she said as she squeezed the water out of her skirt.

Yu chuckled as he saw how saggy Xiao's clothes were from the rain. "I say we let the girls change and then we do what?" Yu asked them.

"Well," Ce started. "Me and Da were going to go ridding, wanna come?" Ce asked them.

"Sure, sounds nice to get to take a tour of the place and get used to the surroundings once again." Gouzhi said.

"You OK with it Da?" Ce asked. He just nominated this even before asked her.

"Of course, I would love to know them better, and horse ridding sounds very good to me." She answered.

"Alright then. It's settled. We'll change, then come back and meet at the stables." Ce said. "Do you remember the stables?" he asked Zian and Gouzhi.

"Yes, it's by the first wing, isn't it?" Zian asked.

"Right, and do you have horses?" Yu asked.

"Yes, some staff people were supposed to put them in the stables." Gouzhi said and looked at Xiao again. For some reason, he just couldn't help but stare at her.

"Good. Then we should change." Ce said. He took Da's hand and started to walk then stopped. "Do you have clothes?"

In our carriage we did." Zian said.

"Good. The staff should have brought it up to some rooms; do you know where they're at?" Yu asked.

"Yes. We came in at least an hour after everyone was asleep and the maids showed us to some rooms, and I guessed they unpacked our stuff. We were woken up by the cannon." Zian answered.

"Right, is your castle going to be okay?" Gouzhi asked them.

"Yeah, it just hit the outer wing." Ce said. "We've had that thing empty for about ten years. It should be rebuilt within an hour." He said like it was nothing important.

"Um, I don't really mean to interrupt, but aren't we going?" Xiao asked them.

"Oh, right. I guess we'll see you in a few minutes." Yu said as he began to escort Xiao in.

XXX

Zian got dressed on silence.

"What's on your mind, bro?" Gouzhi asked. His brother usually had something to say.

"Did you see how pretty she was?" Zian asked.

"Who?"

"Lady Da Qiao. Even when she had her clothes wet, she was gorgeous."

"You better not say that in front of Ce." Gouzhi warned.

"Right, I'll tell Zhou Yu that you like Xiao Qiao as well." Zian teased.

"I don't like Xiao." Gouzhi said to protect his back.

"You don't? I saw you making goggle eyes at her." Zian said smiling.

"I was not."

"Yes you were."

"So what if I was?"

"You better not tell Zhou Yu that?" Zian said in a mocking tone.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Gouzhi said to his brother.

"Oh, Gou." Zian said in a girl's voice.

"You know that you do that a little too well!" Gou teased.

Zian threw his soaked shorts at his brother. "You would know!"

"Aw, we all know that you're gay, Zian." Gou said.

Zian was about to hit him when he spoke again, "You don't want to look bad for Lady Da, now do you, Zian?" Gou said knowing that it would stop his brother.

Zian stopped as if to second think. He signed a defeat and resumed to get ready.

"I won?" Gouzhi asked in an unbelieving tone. He was teasing of course.

"Yes, but if you don't get ready, I'll tell Yu and he'll bash your face in right in front of Xiao." Zian threatened.

Gouzhi got ready in not time.

XXX

Xiao was already ready, but she was waiting on Da. Da was always taking time on getting her looks down. Xiao had to go and tell Taka that everything was alright and that she could come out. Xiao giggled when she thought of Taka fighting with that sword.

She turned as she heard knocking and quickly went across the floor to open the door.

"Hey, I was coming to see if you were ready." Yu said as Xiao smiled.

"Why, is everyone ready to go?" she asked.

"No. I just wanted to see if you wanted to take a walk." Yu told her.

"Yeah, let me tell Da." She told him. She hurried to Da's privy chamber and knocked on the door. "Da, I'm going to go for a walk with Zhou. Will you be alright?" Xiao asked through the door.

"Yes, you two go and have fun." Da said.

"Okay." Xiao said and skipped to the door where Yu was waiting.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yep! Let's go!" she said and closed the door behind her.

XXX

Da Qiao walked down the familiar corridors with the grace that she was brought up with. As she walked, she thought of what the palace looked like when Ce and Yu were kids. Were the colors any different? Were the corridors the same? These questions were running through her head as she got to her destination: the young lord's door.

Knock… knock. "Ce… Can I come in?" Da asked through the door.

"_Sure! It's open!" _She heard a distant voice say. She opened the door and walked through the open chamber to the privy.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Ca asked as she saw Ce come from the bathing room with only leggings on.

"Oh no, just had me my shirt on the dresser, will you?" he asked as he came towards her. She turned to the dresser and picked up the first shirt she saw.

"Is this it, my lord?" She asked him, but she gasped as she felt his arm wrap around her waist. She slowly put the shirt back on the dresser and put her arms on his. She closed her eyes as she felt kissed come up her neck. She let out a breath she had been holding and turned to face Ce. He smiled down at her and leaned down to kiss her, but reached behind her and grabbed the shirt.

"Yes, that one." He said before he released Da and put the shirt on. Instead of kissing her, he walked over to a rack and put his armor on.

"That's it?" Da asked him.

"Yeah, pretty much." He said teasingly.

Da felt mad that he got away with teasing her. "So, Ce, I see that you don't want me." She said as she got her lips about an inch from his. "So I'll leave." She said as she gave a little turn and went to the door. She stopped before opening and gave Ce a "come and get me" look and went out.

"Dang it, woman! I thought that I finally won!" He said.

"_Well think again!" Da yelled and Ce heard a door shut._

He rushed out the door.

XXX

"So what did you want to talk about?" Xiao asked Yu as she walked backwards in front of him.

"Not talk, but show." He said.

"I don't understand." Xiao said with a cock of her head.

He leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "Follow me."

As she did what she was told, her curiosity raised more and more with each step.

"Almost there." Yu promised as they walked.

"Where are we going?" Xiao asked. Yu had her blindfolded, so she could not see. She could tell they were in the castle, but other than that, she was blank.

"It's a surprise." Yu said.

She felt the breeze from the outside and inhaled a familiar scent. But it couldn't be…

Yu took off Xiao's blindfold and Xiao went wild.

"It's just like my homeland!" Xiao exclaimed. Yu had created an exact replica of her gardens back in the south with even the exotic birds that flew around. The familiar scent came from the Papercuts flowers that Xiao loved the most.

"When?" Xiao managed to breathe.

"When you and Da were away, I got permission from Lord Sun Jian and Ce funded most of it due to the fact that he hasn't a thing to spend money on. With the exception of Da." Yu said. He was quite pleased of his work, and the look on Xiao's face made this worth while.

"It's so pretty, Yu!" Xiao said as hugged Yu. Yu smiled. She was so cute and innocent, how could anyone resist her?

"Know what I wanna do?" Xiao asked him with a teasing smile.

"What's that?" He asked with her still in his arms.

"Tag! You're it!" Xiao said running.

Yu laughed. This was going to be fun…

XXX

"We're supposed to meet them where?" Gouzhi asked as he and Zian walked down the hallway.

"The stables, but I looked out and no one was there so I guess we can explore." Zian said.

"Where do you think they are?" Gou asked as he looked at the familiar surroundings.

"Getting dressed I guess." Zian said.

"Or kissing." Gou replied only to be hit on the head by Zian.

"Get you're head out of the gutter!"

"I pray that you're right and I'm wrong for once." Gou said, but he notice that Zian wasn't listening and tugged on.

Let's just go to the stables." Zian said after a moment of silence.

XXX

"Oh Da…" Ce said as he looked around a corner. He heard a pitter patter of footsteps and turned around just in time to have Da jump on him.

"I got you!" She said as he held her.

"Or do I have you?" Ce said into her ear. Da's eyes widened and she began to giggle at the thought of her being caught by Ce. She wrapped her legs a little tighter around his waist to keep from falling off.

"You smell good, you know that?" Ce asked as he held his girl.

"So now I'm being sniffed?" Da asked and pulled to where her and Ce's faces were almost touching.

"No…" He said before stopping. She was so close to him… maybe if he moved a little closer…

Weather her or Ce made the first move, Da couldn't tell. Maybe they moved at the same time, but Da's and Ce's lips met and Da was sure this was a dream.

Ce placed Da on a nearby table and began to put one of his hands on the back of her neck and the other around her back.

Da's thoughts were entirely on him, but when she heard a horse nay, the guests came rushing into her mind.

"Um… Ce…" Da said in between kisses.

"Oh, Da, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me! I… I…" Ce said.

Da was beyond confused. "Why are you sorry?" She asked him.

"I shouldn't have done it." Ce said. Da could tell that he hated himself at the moment and jumped off the table.

She wrapped her arms around him, "You can kiss me anytime you want to." She said. She lightly kissed him then got to business. "We need to get to the guests." Da said.

"Oh, I almost forgot about them!" Ce said. "Let's go get Yu and Xiao." Ce said as he took Da's hand and went down the corridor.

XXX

Xiao Qiao looked over the bush for any site of Zhou Yu. She didn't see any and decided to climb the tree behind her. She got a little ways up before she heard a voice.

"Don't you know that you are not supposed to climb trees?" She turned around to see Zhou Yu. She smiled at him and jumped down.

"How'd you find me?" she asked. She thought that she had a good hiding place this time.

"I don't think that bushes have feet." He remarked smiling.

"I didn't have my feet under the bush!" Xiao commented.

"Then I suppose that it just grew them." Yu said as he neared Xiao.

"Oh, don't do it again! I almost wet my pants the last time you did it!" Xiao said smiling. He came closer causing her to step back.

"Oh no!" Xiao said as Zhou lunged for her. She turned to run away but wasn't fast enough as Zhou caught her. She felt his arms wrap around her waist and they proceeded to pull her back to him. She tried to strangle out of his grasp as he began to tickle her.

She busted out laughing and fell to her knees. She tried to craw away from him, but he would pull her back into a tickling frenzy.

Zhou Yu was so caught up with Xiao that he didn't even notice the time go by. He looked at the sky and signed.

"What?" Xiao asked.

"We need to get to the stables. They're probably looking for us right now!" Yu said. He helped Xiao up and escorted her out when they ran into Da and Ce.

"We were just looking for you!" Da said.

"Come on! Let's go! They're probably wondering where we are." Ce said as he took Da's hand again and they began to go outside.

"Aw, man!" Ce said.

"What?" Everyone asked him.

"I forgot my running boots!" Ce said.

"Well, we can't keep them waiting." Da said.

"OK, you and Xiao go to them and Ce and I will go get his boots." Zhou Yu told Xiao.

"Okay! See you!" Xiao said. She and Da rounded a corner and were out of site in no time.

XXX

"Where are they?" Gou asked Zian who sat quietly on a pail.

"They'll be here." Zian said with patience.

"How in the world can you be so patient?"

Before Zian could reply, Da and Xiao came around the corner giggling.

"I know!" Xiao said as Da whispered something in her ear.

The girls stopped in front of the two crushing guys and bowed.

"How did we get so lucky, Gou?" Zian asked his brother.

"What do you mean?" Gou asked. He knew what his bro was saying.

"How did we get so lucky as to be in the presence of the two Qiao Sisters themselves?" Zian asked.

The Qiaos giggles. "You're just lucky." They said in unison.

Zian and Gou put their hands on their hearts at the same time. "Lady Xiao," Gou began. "You stole my heart from the beginning."

Xiao blushed and smiled at the same time. "I'll try not to break it." She said causing everyone to laugh.

As the laughter subsided, Zian looked at Da. "I'm afraid that the lovely Lady Da has already broken my heart." He said. There was a momentarily silence as Da and Zian looked into each other's eyes.

Zian got on his knees before Da and took her hand and kissed it. "You look beautiful." He whispered to her.

Xiao saw Gou get up and pick a flower from a nearby bouquet and hand it to her. "It will never match your beauty though." He said. She smiled and blushed again.

"I think that we need to get our horses." Da said to ease the tension. She needed to ride and get some air.

XXX

"I found them!" Ce said to Yu who was in the other room looking for the boots.

"Great. Now we can go." Yu said.

Ce put his boots on in a hurry. "Okay, I'm ready." He said and they went out the door in a flash.

XXX

"I hope they're not having too much fun without us!" Ce said as they made their way to the stables.

"Well, if you wouldn't have forgotten your boots, we would've already been down there!" Yu said with a smile.

"Well I'm so…" Ce stopped and looked out the window. He got this really agitated look on his face.

"What?" Yu asked. He went to see what got his friend so mad. When he saw what it was, he just stopped.

Gou put a flower in Xiao's hair and Zian was kissing Da's hand.

Ce punched the side of the window and went down the stairs in a hurry. Yu didn't know what to do. His heart told him that it was nothing, but his mind wanted to beat the living heck out of the guy flirting with HIS Xiao! He listened to both by deciding to pummel him nicely.

He went down the stairs and caught up with Ce.

"Did you see that?" Ce said with anger. "He's flirting with MY Da Qiao and he's going to pay for it!" Ce said and flew out the door.

"What are you going to do?" Yu asked. He wanted to know if his sworn brother had the same idea that he had.

"Well, first, I'm going to beat him up. Then second, I'm castrating him!" Ce said as he got angrier with each stride.

Zhou Yu got to thinking and signed. "Ce, maybe they were just being nice."

Ce turned around and flashed an angry look at his sworn brother. "Nice?! He could've found other ways to be 'nice'!" Ce said.

"I'm just saying that we should wait about the whole killing thing."

Ce stopped and thought. "Okay, but if he does again, I'll make sure that no girl, not even the ugliest girl in the world, would be interested in him!" Ce said then resumed walking towards the stables.

_And I'll be right behind you. _Zhou Yu thought.

XXX

"Oh, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, come on! We have your horses out." Zian said as he saw Ce and Yu come around the corner. Ce looked as he saw his horse standing beside Zian.

Zhou Yu and Ce looked at each other and Yu hatched an idea when he saw Da and Xiao come out with their horses.

"Xiao!" Yu yelled. "You and Da don't need your horses! You're ridding with me and Ce! It saves time!" He yelled.

Ce caught on to what Yu was doing and agreed. "Yeah!"

Da and Xiao looked at each other curiously but agreed.

XXX

"Where are we going, Zhou?" Xiao asked her boyfriend as they went off.

"I think that Zian and Gouzhi would like to see the village." Ce said.

"That would be nice." Da agreed.

"Okay!" Xiao said "Do you two like that idea?" She asked the guests.

"Sounds good to me." Gouzhi said then everyone looked at Zian

"Same here." He commented.

"To the village we go." Yu said.

XXX

"Oh, Da, look at these pretty jewels!" Xiao said as she looked at a station on pearls and diamonds. Zhou Yu was behind holding her hand, followed by Da and Ce then Gou and Zian.

"I know! They're so pretty." Da said as she admired the expensive things.

"Do you want one?" Zhou Yu asked Xiao.

"Oh no…" Xiao said until her eyes went to a necklace with pandas on it, then she went crazy. "Oh my goddess! It's so pretty! And it has a panda!" She said as she almost jumped into Zhou Yu's arms.

"Do you want that one?" Yu asked her. It was amusing to see her so amazed by something so little.

Before Xiao could say anything, Da jumped.

"Oh my! Look at these swans!" Da said as she picked up a necklace with two swans in the shape of a heart.

"Zhou Yu, I think we lost our girls to necklaces." Ce said causing everyone, including the clerk, to laugh.

"Do you girls want us to buy them for you?" Yu asked the Qiaos.

"Oh, no. I wouldn't wear it." Da said. "What about you, Xiao?"

"Well, it's pretty and all, but I wouldn't wear it either." The younger Qiao said.

"Okay, but are you sure?" Ce asked. He knew his Qiao would want it.

"Yes." Da said as she put the jewelry back on the station.

"Yeah, what would I wear it with anyway?" Xiao said as she grudgingly looked away from the cute pandas.

"Okay, if you're sure." Yu said. Xiao grabbed his hand and they went to the next station. At least, the couples did. Zian and Gou stayed back.

"How much for the necklaces?" Zian and Gou said at the same time.

The store clerk smiled at them knowingly. He told them the price and the guys paid him and hid the packages.

The two brothers hurriedly caught up with the couples who were at a clothing station. They caught up and noticed that the Qiaos were nowhere in sight.

"Where's the girls?" Gou asked the men.

Ce cocked a head to a section of the store blocked off by a curtain. "They're trying on some dresses they saw."

"Oh." Gou said and leaned against a pole. Zian was looking at the men's hunting boots and Ce and Yu were talking about something.

"I don't like the fact that he wanted to know where our girls were." Ce said.

"I'm sure that he was just curious." Yu said.

"Yeah, well he looks over that curtain, I'll kill him." Ce said.

Before Zhou Yu could respond, Xiao Qiao walked out wearing a short, tight, white mini skirt with a dancer top on to match it. She had on a pair of high heeled shoes to go with it that went all the way to her knees. Yu's jaw dropped.

"What?! You don't like it?!" Xiao said and started to back away.

"No! I mean… it's … you…" Yu couldn't think straight. For some reason, his eyes kept drifting to the _very _revealing top.

Yu turned when he heard Ce chuckle.

"You don't like it, do you?" Xiao asked.

"No… it's… very pretty." Yu said. Why couldn't he think straight?!

Just then, Da came out in the same clothes Xiao had, only they were a deep purple. Now Ce couldn't even breathe.

"Oh…my…god!" He said.

Da looked shocked. "It's that horrible?!"

"It's fantastic!" he said.

Yu finally pried his eyes away from his very attractive girl, when he noticed the looks that Gou and Zian had on their faces.

Yu put his arms around Xiao so that no one could see her. "Let me buy in for you." He whispered into her ear.

She giggled. "You like it, do you?"

"You look so amazing." He answered.

"It looks like something that I would have at a Fiesta." She said.

"Yes, but you could wear it anytime you want to." He said.

She continued to giggle. "Okay, I'll wear it just for you."

"I would have it no other way."

She smiled, then turned and went to change back.

Yu turned to Ce, and then he regretted doing that because he was kissing Da. _Nothing serious. Yeah right!_

Ce let Da go so that she could change back and walked over to Yu. "Man, I thought that I'd never let her go." Ce said as he shook his head.

"Zian was looking at her." Yu said.

"What?!" Ce said.

"Yeah, and Gou was looking at Xiao."

"Well, he's just glad that I didn't see it." Ce said.

"I kept my arms around Xiao so that Gou couldn't see anything." Yu said.

Ce laughed. "Trying to make him jealous?"

"No, succeeding."

XXX

Xiao Qiao walked over to her mirror and began to take off her clothes. She had dismissed Taka and was planning on going to bed. She put her nightgown on and was about to wash her make up off when she heard knocking at her door.

She opened it up. "Yu, what are you doing here so late?"

"I just wanted to ask you something." Zhou Yu said.

"Well, come on in." Xiao motioned.

Yu sat down on a couch. "Xiao, Ce and I were walking to get to the stables this morning when we saw Gou and Zian sort of flirting with you."

"You don't think that I'm cheating on you, do you?" Xiao asked. Why would he think such a thing?

"No, no. It's not that! It's just that I wanted to know if you liked him." Yu asked her.

Xiao's mouth opened, "No! Never! I would NEVER do that to you!" Xiao exclaimed.

"I know, it's just…" Yu started before he was interrupted.

"Oh, I get it. You're jealous." Xiao said smiling.

"No! No way would I be…" He was interrupted again.

"My Zhou Yu is jealous."

"No!"

"Zhou Yu is jealous! Zhou Yu is jealous!" Xiao sang.

"So what if I am?!" Yu snapped.

Xiao smiled and at down beside him. "I won't fall for him, I want real men." She said.

Yu busted out laughing. "So I'm a real man?"

"I thought you were." She said.

Yu smiled. "If I'm man enough for you, then I'm man enough for me." He said as he pulled her close and planted a kiss on her rose petal lips.

--

**Did you enjoy it? I hope you did! Tell me all about it! And I'm sorry it took so long, I had the second chappy written, but I hated it so I had to redo it all over again! Anyway, PLEASE review! **

**Oh, and I usually have a good beginning, then I totally screw it up when I get to the second chappy. So, could you tell me if I totally screwed it up, or did I do well?**


	3. Unexpected Leaving

**Yahooo! I finally wrote it! And I just named an internet site…**

**First of all, I want to give a special thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, and I want to also give a special thanks to everyone who reviewed for You Save Me! It meant a lot to me, guys, and so thanks! **

**Hope you enjoy this!**

_**XXX**_

"Alright! Everyone move!" Ce said as he ran and did a cannonball in the river water.

"My turn!" Gan Ning shouted before jumping in the water.

"We're supposed to be fishing, guys." Lu Xun said like a little child afraid to get caught.

"Ah, Xun, lighten up!" Ling Tong said as he slapped Lu Xun on the back. "Even Zhou Yu is swimming." Tong gestured to Yu who was treading the water near Ce.

Gan Ning came up. "Everyone, come over here, there's something cool!" He said and raised his hands like he was holding something.

Everyone swam over to where he was at. "What is it?" Ce asked Ning.

Ning made a mischievous face. "Well…" Bubbles came up from behind Ning followed by a coarse smell.

"Oh, god!" Tong said as everyone began to swim away.

Ning started to kill himself laughing. "You should've seen your faces!"

"Can we join?" asked someone from the bushes. The men looked at Zian and Gouzhi as they approached.

"I don't know, do you pay?" Ce joked.

"Depends." Zian answered.

"Aw, we're just kidding ya! Come on in! Just don't tell anyone that we're not fishing." Ce made a gesture for them to hop on in.

"Hey! Let's play chicken!" Tong suggested to the guys.

"Don't you need girls?" Zian asked as he floated.

"Well, we'll use Xun and you can use Gouzhi." Ning joked.

"Will you shut up?" Xun asked Ning.

The men began to laugh. "Do you think we'll get caught?" Xun asked.

"Naw." Ce said. "Most of the women are waiting for us to bring the meat home, they won't come."

"And what do you suppose we do when we have to go home, and we don't have the fish?" Ning asked.

Yu finally spoke. "We'll go buy it at a fish market."

"Oh, that makes sense." Gouzhi said as he once again went under the water.

"Yep." Ce started to float. "We won't get caught slacking."

"Busted!" they all heard someone say. They looked up at the top of a cliff which overhung the river.

Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao sat there smiling down at the men.

"Ooh! You're slacking on the job! You'll get in big trouble with Lady Wu, Ce!" Xiao warned as she shook a little cute finger.

"You guys aren't going to tell." Ce made a hand gesture to brush them off.

"And who says we're not?" Da Qiao asked him.

"Well, us actually." Ce pointed to him, then to Yu.

Xiao laughed. "They think that they can keep us down, Da!" She began to giggle more.

"We don't think, my dear, we know." Yu told her.

Both Qiaos started to laugh. "And how will you do that, might I ask?" Da put her hands on her hips.

"Persuasiveness." Ce told Da then raised his eyebrows twice to emphasize his point.

All the men in the river laughed. "OH!" Gan Ning shouted up to Da. "You two just got told."

Ignoring Ning, "Oh, Baby, I can be more "persuasive" than you can." Da said in a flirty voice.

Ce laughed. "Show me then, baby." He challenged her.

Da shrugged. If he wanted her to, she would. She backed up from Xiao, who was smiling because she knew what her sister was going to do next, and began to pull the chopsticks out of her hair.

Ce gulped as Da began to take her clothes off, leaving nothing but a simple undergarment. She took a few steps back, then took off running and jumped in the water.

After a few moments, she didn't come up and Ce got worried. "Da?" He called.

Everyone began to look around where they were at.

"YEEYOW!" Ce screamed. He turned to see Da come out of the water. "Woman, did you have to pinch my butt?"

Da Qiao got very close to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "I'm sorry, my lord, did I scare you?" She asked him as their lips were almost touching.

"N-no, I-I j-just didn't expect-t it." His eyes were on hers.

She nodded and began to trace his body with her fingernail. "I didn't mean to scare you, my lord. I'm sorry." She looked into his eyes with pleading ones. "Do you forgive me?"

"Oh, yeah. Um, what did you do again?" He asked as his eyes stared at her lips.

"I scared you!" she said just above a whisper. She gave him a hug and whispered in his ear. "Can you ever forgive me?"

His arms closed around her and she knew she was on the right track. "Yeah, babe."

He began to nuzzle her neck and she once again whispered in his ear. "Ce, darling?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm more persuasive!"

His eyes shot open. "That's not fair!" He said as he drew her away.

"Why not?" Da asked as everyone began to laugh.

"Because! You're using my… manly… needs to be persuasive!"

"No! I'm using my feminine charm."

"The same thing!" Ce argued.

"Scientifically speaking, they're not." Yu put his two sense in.

"Yeah, right. You would've done the same if you were me!" Ce argued, again.

"No, I could control myself."

"Yeah right!" Xiao said from the top of the cliff. "You would be begging for me."

All of the men laughed. "Oh, shut up before I let Shang Xiang get hold of you!" Yu snapped. At the mention of the tomboy princess, all the men shut up.

"And I would be doing no such thing!" He told Xiao.

"Actually, Yu, I've seen you ogle at her a few times. I'm sure if she teased you like Da did me, you'd be on your knees." Ce scratched his head.

"Now wait a min-"

"My lords," a messenger called to them from the path to the river. When he arrived, he expected to see them fishing like his Lord had said they were, but what he saw shocked him. "I, uh." He closed his eyes and shook his head then began again. "Lord Sun Jian wants every general to report to the meeting room."

Ce raised an eyebrow. "Did he say why?"

"To go over the attack on the castle two days prior, my lord." The messenger answered.

Yu nodded to Ce and the two began to swim to the bank followed by Tong, Ning and Xun.

"Tell my father we're coming." Ce ordered the messenger before making his way to his clothes.

Xiao Qiao walked to Yu's side. He looked up to her and smiled. "I'll only be gone for awhile. Don't wait to eat, okay? I'll eat later."

She nodded with sad eyes. They hadn't gotten to see each other much that morning. "Okay."

He reached down and kissed her forehead. She smiled brighter, and picked up his shirt to help him with. He smiled and complied to her help. She giggled as he turned around to face her and spun her around.

Ce smiled at the sight of his friend flirting with Xiao. Yu deserved it anyway. He worked hard and played little. Played little meant "Played with Xiao", most of the time.

Ce looked around to see where Da Qiao was only to find her still in the river with Zian. His possessiveness took hold and he was about to tell Da to get out of the river, when he noticed her expression. It was one of anger. She told Zian something, and he grabbed her roughly by her arm.

"Zian, get off of me!!" She tried to break free of him but he held on.

Ce ran full speed to the river and splashed into the water. If someone had branded him, he wouldn't have ran any faster.

He splashed into the water and grabbed Da Qiao away from Zian. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ce yelled at Zian.

Zian ignored Ce and reached for Da again. "Please, Da! Listen to me."

Ce reared back and was about to punch Zian when Da stopped him. "Don't." She told him.

Ce wanted nothing than to turn Zian into noodles and then ground him into powder, but he loved Da, and didn't. "You stay away from MY girl!" Ce told him, then pushed Zian back into the water.

Ce helped Da Qiao out of the water and Xiao handed Da her clothes. "Are you okay, sis?" Xiao asked her.

"Yes, Xiao, I'm fine." Da told her, then gave her a smile.

Ce walked with Da attached to his hip until they were away from the river. "What did he say?" Ce asked Da.

"Nothing really, just that he wanted to talk to me and Xiao." Da Qiao continued to look at the ground while the other generals were still trying to get over what had happened.

"Did he say why?" Yu asked. He was holding Xiao's hand.

Da shook her head. "All he said he wanted to do was talk."

"Yeah, right, he wanted to get you in some secluded area so he-OOF!" Gan Ning's words were halted by Xun putting an elbow in his gut.

"Shut it!" Xun whispered.

"You just focus on the meeting." Da told Ce. "I'll stay in my room with Xiao."

_**--**_

Da Qiao glared at Xiao. Xiao Qiao glared at Da.

"Draw." Da called and both girls held out their cards.

"Hah! I win! Again!" Xiao Qiao exclaimed.

"That's the fourth time! You must be cheating!" Da protested.

"Nope!" Xiao held up her hands. "As clean as whistle!"

"I'll show you clean!" Da jumped on her sister and began to tickle her.

Xiao Qiao laughed and tried to get away. She managed to get out of Da's grasp and took off for Da's bedroom.

She ran around the bed followed by Da. Xiao panicked and threw a pillow at her sister. Da's mouth fell after it hit her. "How could you?"

"I'm sorry, Da!" Xiao said. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings!"

Da smiled, picked up the pillow and ran after Xiao. Xiao screamed and jumped over the bed and ran into the hallway. Da ran after her and, when she caught up to her, grabbed her dress and slowed her down. Da started to hit Xiao with the pillow and Xiao tried to grab it. They both didn't realize that they were on a rug until it slipped out from under them. They both fell with muffled screams, thanks to the pillow, and both hit the floor with a thud.

Both sisters looked at each together with shock, then with amusement. They both flew into fits of giggles and laughter.

"That made me hungry!" Xiao told Da.

"Well you go get us some snacks from the kitchen while I try to clean up this mess."

"Okay!" Xiao said and was out the door in a flash.

Da went to get up, but a hand was extended to her. She looked up to see Zian standing above her. "What are you doing here?" Da asked, still on the floor.

"I told you that I needed to talk to you!"

"Okay, if you promise me that you will never do what you did in the river, I'll listen."

"I promise! But I want to apologize for that. I wanted to talk to you, and you wouldn't listen."

Da stood up with Zian's help and sat on her couch. "What's this about?"

Zian pulled out a scroll with a drawing on it. "Do you recognize her?"

Da looked at the girl in the picture. She wasn't beautiful, yet she wasn't ugly either. Her hair was short compared to Da's and the girl's eyes looked to be demonic.

Da shook her head. "No, I've never seen her before. Why?"

"Her name is Nong Ai. She was Sun Ce's fiancée when you and he met."

Da Qiao looked up at him. "You lie!"

Zian shook his head, "I have met her myself. Sun Ce didn't want the arrangement, he said that he couldn't stand her. No one here could, actually. Most of the people called her The Witch. She was horrible to everyone except Ce."

Zian let this sink in before he continued. "Ce wanted out, when he saw you, he got to know you, then convinced Jian that he was in love. Jian called off the engagement immediately following your arrival here."

"How do you know this if you were gone from Wu so long?" Da had suspicions about his story.

"As with every good lord, I have my informants."

Da looked at the picture. "Why are you telling me this now?"

Zian sat beside her. "Because I don't want you to be used." He signed and took her hand. "Nong Ai was seen leaving Ce's room at midnight yesterday night."

Da's eyes went wide. "How do you know this?"

"My handmaid saw her leaving when I had dismissed her. I couldn't sleep that night, so she made me some tea, and I dismissed her. She was talking about it to the other maids who've worked here long enough to remember, and I overheard. I thought that you needed to know."

Da felt her heart fall down her body.

"That's not all." Zian continued. "It is said amongst the court ladies that the two have been exchanging letters back and forth."

"If he hated her, then why is he writing to her? Your story has flaws." Da turned to him.

Zian pulled out another scroll. "What about her? Do you recognize her?"

Da took the scroll and looked at yet another girl. Just like the other one, she wasn't pretty nor ugly. "No, why? Has she had romantic engagements to my Ce as well?" Da asked him in a mocking tone.

"No, thankfully. Her name is Daiyu Sheng. She's Nong Ai's sister, and was Zhou Yu's fiancé."

"You are deceiving in front of my face!" Da Qiao stood up.

"Go ask them! They will tell you the same."

"Hey, Da. I got you a meat bun- what the heck are you doing here?" Xiao asked Zian.

"Xiao, have you seen this girl before?" Da showed the scroll of Daiyu to Xiao and took the meat from Xiao's hands and put it on a nearby table.

"No, why?" Xiao asked her sister.

"She's supposed to be Zhou Yu's fiancé, or his old one." Da told her.

"What?" Xiao asked Da who pointed to Zian. "Where's your proof?"

"There are rumors that the two have exchanged letters along with Ce's ex-fiancé." Gouzhi said as he entered the door to Da's room.

"Those are just rumors!" Xiao argued.

"But don't you think that you should check them out?" Gou asked Xiao.

"Fine! I'll go ask Yu himself."

"No!" Zian and Gou both told her at the same time. "They won't tell you the truth."

"And why not?" Xiao put her hands on her hips with one carrying the scroll.

"Because they want to keep it a secret." Zian told her.

"Why?" Da asked.

"I don't know why."

"Well, who do you suppose we ask?" Xiao asked Zian and Gou. Yu wouldn't keep a secret from her, would he?

"Ask someone who'd been here long enough to remember." Gou suggested.

"Like who?" When no one answered her, Xiao turned to Da. "Who, Da?"

Da Qiao stared at her for a moment before picking up Nong Ai's picture and grabbing Xiao by the hand and out the door. She left it open as an unspoken "Get Out" to Gou and Zian who complied.

_**--**_

"Where are we going, Da?" Xiao asked but Da didn't answer.

Next thing Xiao knew, she was being swept into the throne room where Lady Wu sat.

"Girls! What brings you here?" Lady Wu asked with a smile. It quickly faded when she saw Da's expression. "What's the matter?"

"Information is why we're here." Da informed her.

"What about?" Lady Wu got off her throne and walked to the Qiaos.

Da pulled out a scroll and handed it to Lady Wu. "Do you know Nong Ai?"

Lady Wu's face went pale. "How do you know about her?"

"So it's true?" Xiao asked.

"What's true?" Lady Wu asked.

"That Lord Sun Ce and her were intimate!" Da told her.

"No! I mean, for awhile they were, but nothing like lovers!" The Lady tried to explain.

"But he was engaged when he met me, is that true also?"

Lady Wu looked down. "Yes, it is."

Da's eyes filled with tears. "And Lord Zhou Yu? Was he engaged as well?"

"Yes. Everything you've said it true." Lady Wu grudgingly admitted.

"Why weren't we told?" Xiao asked. She was mainly listening to this.

"Because we all figured that they were part of the past."

"Why are they exchanging letters?" Da asked as she turned her back away from Lady Wu to hide her tears.

"What?"

"Ce and my Yu are exchanging letters with these girls." Xiao told her.

"I don't know. I haven't heard of any such preposterous thing." Lady Wu told them.

Da turned to face her. "Well it seems everyone _else _has!"

"I'm sorry Da. I shouldn't be the one telling you, I know. But you have to understand that what we did was for the best intentions."

"Okay." Da said before walking out with Xiao.

"What do you think?" Xiao asked Da.

"I think we were used Xiao. I think that we were one-way carriages out of a lifetime of torture."

_**--**_

Sun Ce looked across the table once again to the Da Qiao who wouldn't even look at him.

"It that all you're going to eat, Xiao?" Yu asked Xiao Qiao who didn't have much on her plate.

"Yes." Was all her got out of her. It had stayed like this since the beginning of dinner.

"Is there something wrong?" Yu asked her for the fourth time that sitting.

"Yes."

"What is it?" Yu asked.

"Nothing." Well at least it was two syllables this time.

There was an awkward silence amongst the generals for a moment. Sun Jian decided to break it. "Da Qiao, is the food to your liking?"

Da looked confused. "Yes, why wouldn't it be, my lord?"

"You just aren't eating today. You or your sister." Jian pointed out.

"I'm just not hungry, my lord." Da answered with a slight bow.

"Can I get you anything else?" Jian asked.

"No." Da turned to look at Xiao. "We're fine, thanks."

Jian raised an eyebrow. The sisters usually sat beside Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, but today, they sat in different seats, away from the boys, even. The way Lady Wu was acting sort of made him think that there was something going on that he didn't know about. She would shift in her seat, bite on her fork, or other unusual things when Da or Xiao spoke to Ce and Yu. The other way around, actually, the Qiaos weren't one to have a conversation with at the moment.

"My lord," A messenger came in. "A letter has come in for Ladies Da and Xiao Qiao."

Sun Jian looked confused. "Da and Xiao?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Well, hand it to them." Sun Jian pointed to Da and Xiao. The messenger walked over to them and handed the letter. Da took out a small money pouch and handed it to the messenger as his pay. As he left the room, Da started to open the letter and the crest caught her eye.

"That's mama and papa's crest!" Xiao jumped in her seat. "Open it!"

"Okay, keep your seat." Da smiled at her then began to read:

"To our dearest daughters,-

"Well mom wrote this." Da commenter before continuing:

"Your Father and I are sorry for the late note, but there were some complications down here. Please brace yourselves for the news you are about to hear: Your loving Aunt Lulu has been murdered…."

Da looked from the letter to Xiao and gasped.

"How was she murdered?" Xiao ushered Da on.

"Your Loving Aunt Lulu has been murdered by a carriage. That's not the worst, she was giving birth when this happened. The baby is fine, she's in our care, but we never did catch the carriage driver. Your aunt's funeral is in a few days, we are going to begin the ceremony at noon and we wanted you two to be here. We've sent a carriage earlier to get your things. The only things it didn't get was your clothes, you can bring those later. We'll talk more about this when you two get here. Your father sends his love, Mama and Papa." Da finished.

"Aunt Lulu…" Xiao put her hands to her lips.

Lady Wu got up and hugged Da and Xiao in their chairs. "I'm so sorry girls."

"Yeah, we all are." Quan spoke. Which was unusual due to the fact that he never really spoke.

Da lost all her sense of living. This was the worst day of her life. What had she done so wrong? What had _they _done wrong? She wanted to reverse time to this morning. Everything was so good then.

"Da, what do we do?" Xiao's voice rang through her head.

"We do what they want us to. Let's go pack."

"You mean we'll be leaving tonight?" Xiao looked confused as Da got out of her seat.

"You must stay!" Lady Wu urged Da. "It will be night soon!"

"There is a reason why they sent a carriage out here for our stuff that quickly. Maybe they need help or something, I don't know, but I do know they need us." Da told Xiao and Lady Wu. "Xiao, get Taka to pack your things, we're leaving tonight."

"Okay." Xiao got up and ran to her room. Da hardly noticed Yu get up and follow her.

"Are you sure you want to go tonight?" Lady Wu asked Da.

"I have nothing to stay here for." Da said making Sun Ce wince inside. "My parents have a reason for this, and we need to get there as fast as we can."

Lady Wu nodded. "Okay."

Da went upstairs to pack her things, and get her thoughts in order.

_**--**_

"Yeah, Taka, we're leaving tonight." Xiao said as the maid fussed.

"Why not tomorrow?" Taka couldn't believe the short notice. "I'll have to get some help." She clapped her hands and a handful of maids came rushing in.

Xiao smiled as she listened to Taka complain. She heard a knock on the door, and was going to let Taka get it, but she wasn't doing provocative, so she went instead.

She opened the door expecting Da, but found Yu there instead.

Her eyes narrowed. "What do _you _want?"

"An explanation." He went to go into her room, but she quickly began to close the door. Yu caught it with his lower arm.

"Xiao, what are you doing, and what have I done to make you so angry with me?"

She didn't answer from the other side of the door. "Xiao, I do believe I deserve some sort of explanation!"

At that, he heard laughter from the other side. "Yeah right! Like I deserved some explanation about Daiyu? Please."

Yu's mouth dropped. "How'd you know about her?"

"So it's true then? And it doesn't matter! It just makes you a pig!!"

"So that was why you were rebelling against me?" He asked.

To Xiao, it seemed like he really didn't care. She huffed and left the door.

At the sudden lost of a doorstopper, Yu caved into the room. He stumbled at first, but grabbed his footing.

"Xiao!" He called as he ran after her. "How do you know about her?"

"Sources, now get out!"

"I know you're angry, but let me explain! I didn't like her-"

"So you saw me and said 'Oh, I think that I'll USE her to get me out of this', right?"

"No! I-"

"Do you know how it makes me feel, Yu? I feel like a slut who ruined a relationship! I thought that I would never do something like that, but woopdedo! I did it! And without even trying! Dang I'm good!"

Xiao turned to one of her dressers and started to pull out some of her clothes and handed them to a waiting maid.

"Xiao-"

"_Lady_ Xiao Qiao." Xiao corrected him. "You may leave now, cheater."

"But let me explain."

"No need to waste your breath. I understand completely."

"You do?"

"Yes, you wanted out, and I could provide that, so you used me, and now that I'm onto you, you want to give me that 'It was just me' story."

"Xiao, it's true that I wanted out, but she and I didn't love each other, we weren't together when-".

Xiao threw down a dress that she was holding and pointed a finger at Yu. "DON"T TELL ME ABOUT LOVE!" She signed and looked at the floor, then back at Yu with a wealth of tears in her eyes. "You used me, Zhou. You used me and my feelings. But not just you, Ce too! I expected higher of you, Zhou. And I never expected this from Ce."

"No, Xiao, I-" He went to reach for her, but Xiao pulled out one of her closed fans.

"Don't!" She looked at the floor again. "Just go." She turned away from him and went into her room. He went to follow her, but she shut and locked the doors.

As Yu's footsteps pounded in her ears, the same way her heart pounded in her chest, Xiao leaned against the double doors and tried to gain control of her tears. She would cry later in the carriage with Da, but not now. Not still in this blasted castle.

_**--**_

"Get everything in there." Da instructed the servants who were putting the suitcases into the carriage.

"Da!" She heard a familiar voice call to her. She turned to see Ce not a few steps behind her.

"What did I do?" He asked her.

"What do you mean?" She walked over to the carriage and inspected the layout.

"I mean why you won't talk to me! And why you're angry with me."

"I don't know, ask Nong Ai." Da told him then walked a few feet away, then turned to inspect his face. Not to her surprise, it was filled with shock.

"How did you-"

"Surprised? I bet you weren't one-tenth as surprised as I was when I found out."

"How did you?" He walked to where he was in front of her.

"From very trusting people, I can tell you."

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter, I know now, so you can stop the phony love act. It's not working today."

"What love act?"

"The one where you say you love me, but really only used me to get out of the relationship you were in with Nong Ai."

"What are you talking about? It's no act!"

Da fake laughed. "I have to say that you are a good liar, Lord Sun Ce."

"I'm not lying! I had terminated my engagement to Nong Ai a week before I met you!"

Da ignored him and turned her attention to Xiao's maids bringing her clothes. Soon, Xiao came out and smiled at Da, but stuck her nose at Ce, making him realize that she knew about Daiyu.

"She knows?" Ce asked Da.

"Yes, and I know about Lord Zhou Yu, too." Da informed him.

"Look, Da, I wasn't in any relationship when I met you! I swear!"

Da Qiao rolled her eyes.

"We're ready, Da!" Xiao called to her from the outside of the carriage.

"Okay, let's say bye to everyone before we go." As if on queue, most of Wu came out to say goodbye to the Qiaos.

Da and Xiao went around saying their goodbyes, trying their best not to cry. But when they got to Sun Shang Xian and Lady Wu, the tears fell like wells over flowing.

"And you promise to write?" Shang asked Da and Xiao.

"Of course, and do you promise to write back, both of you?" Xiao asked Lady Wu and Shang.

"Yes." They both nodded.

Xiao and Da finally got down to Sun Jian. "Well, I guess this is farewell, huh?" He strained a smile for their benefit.

"No farewell!" Xiao told him. "Just goodbye! We'll see each again other sometime!"

"I hope so." He hugged them both. "I hope so…"

_**--**_

Da Qiao stared out of the window into the canopy of stars. She wondered what else life had left to throw at her. It had broken her heart, taken her away from the other people she thought family, and had actually taken a part of her family.

She signed. At least she had Xiao, who was sleeping peacefully with her head in Da's lap. She had cried earlier, but it had ceased as sleep overcame the younger one. Da moved a piece of hair that had fallen in her face, and laid back in the carriage. She would need to sleep for the big day tomorrow. It had been months since she had seen her parents. She didn't want to have eye bags on her first day of seeing them.

As she drifted to sleep, she had no ides that life had so much more in store for her…

_**XXX**_

**So what do you guys think? I have SO MUCH in store for this little story! Just tell me what you think, and don't worry, I might put them together again…(Depending on your reviews!) Muhaha! And I will add more Xiao/Yu for all of their fans.**

**And I have to give KOEI credit, THEY ACTUALLY MADE DONG ZHOU UGLIER!! I can imagine how hard it was for them, but they pulled it off. Congratulations….**

**Please Review!!**

**P.S. Once again, a special thanks to those who have, and will, review(ed) for my last oneshot/songfic: You Save Me. I'll add a Xiao/Yu one when I stumble on the right song.**

**Thanks! **

**Sp9532 has left your computer… ;-)**


	4. The Meaning of Dreams

**Hey guys! Another update for everyone who's reading this! This one is told mainly from Da and Xiao's POV, but there's a reason for it, I assure you!**

**Enjoy guys!!**

**XXX**

He turned over in a sleepy hazy between dreaming and awakening. Her smooth voice filling his head once more.

"_**You can kiss me anytime you want to." **_

The way the waters were calm let him know that they were bound to dock soon. He thought he should get up and prepare the men for their arrival, but he knew Zhou Yu could handle that.

Instead, he rolled into a comfortable position, and dreamed about her again. The only way that he could stay connected to the woman he lost nearly two years ago…

_**-- **_

"_Dance with me." He told her._

"_Out here?" she asked confused._

"_Why not?"_

"_Why out here?" she countered._

_He smiled and looked at the star spattered sky, "I hate it when the people in there look at you." He said._

_She looked down for a moment before taking his hand and ushering him to dance._

_As they waltzed, Da Qiao could've sworn this was a dream. To her, it seemed like no one existed but her and Ce. She felt like they were dancing on the clouds and the moon was their only light in this blissful moment. She felt like she could fly off at any moment and never touch the floor again._

"_Ce," she whispered, "this feels like a dream."_

"_Then don't wake up." He said as he pulled her close. She felt all her fears melt away when he did this. The fear of the impending war, fears of how her mother and father were doing. Just everything. For that moment, that peaceful, happy, moment, she had thought that time itself had stopped._

"_I love you so much, Da!" she heard Sun Ce say._

_She turned to him and then looked down at the floor. He panicked for a second when she didn't answer. But she rose up with tears in her eyes and whispered: "I have done everything, my dress, and the invitations, to please you."_

_He put his forehead to hers and wiped away a tear from her cheek. "You don't have to please me, Da. Just being with you pleases me to no end!"_

_As much as she tried, she couldn't stop the ever flowing tears. She looked into his deep eyes and held her breath as he cupped her chin and pulled her lips to his. Da felt her mind soar and she was surprised at his actions. She slowly gave in and eased up at his touch. She returned his kiss as her eyes fluttered shut. She wrapped her arms around his neck and inhaled his scent and taste. This was no doubt the best moment of her life…_

_**--**_

Da Qiao awoke with a jerk from her window seat inside her room. She signed and laid her head back to the wooden frame only to realize she had a stiffness in her neck from the awkward position she had been sleeping in. This discovery only made her question how long she had been in that position.

She shook her neck in different positions to get the stiffness out and remembered the dream. This wasn't the first time she had had it; for several months it had haunted her in her sleep causing her to stay awake at night and endure its consequences of a sleepy haze in the day. She had been falling asleep through the day more often now that she had in her whole life. Her mother had blamed it on hormones, but Da knew differently in the back of her mind. She was just too scared to accept it.

Deciding it was time to get up, she moved away the picture that she was drawing before drifting to sleep, and crossed the floor to the mirror. She signed as she evaluated herself. Most of her needed to be redone. She started with her hair before going to her make-up. As soon as she was through putting herself back together, she called Hula in.

"Yes milady?" The aging maid asked.

"Hula, do you know where my sister is? I wish to speak to her." Da asked as she examined herself in the mirror.

"Her maids report that she is enjoying the garden right now, Lady Da."

Da Qiao stopped fiddling with her skirt and signed. "Should have known." She muttered as she passed Hula.

She exited the door and her maids began to follow, but she stopped them. "I'm going to the gardens to my sister. I do not require your services." The maids bowed and left her alone.

Da walked down the familiar corridors to the door she was looking for. She saw Xiao with a flower in her hair and smiled as Xiao saw her.

"You are right about the maids." Da said as she approached her sister.

"What? About their being annoying?" Xiao asked with a knowing smile. She laughed as Da nodded. "I told you! I think Papa hit his head when he assigned us so many."

Da smiled at her sister's remark. "What are you doing?"

"Picking up flowers for a bouquet in the dining room. Mama's going through a stage of remodeling."

"Another stage?! But she just got through with her 'I'm old!!' one!"

"Well, this one keeps her mind off of her previous one." Xiao said as she picked a yellow flower.

Da shook her head. "And I thought that Lulu was going to keep her busy." Lulu was their late aunt's daughter. The only one to survive the tragic wagon accident that killed her parents.

"Apparently Mama hired a nurse."

"A new one? What happened to the last one?"

"She couldn't take Mama's mood changes." Xiao replied. She signed as she looked at the flowers in her hands. "I wanna go somewhere Da. To the village at least. I just can't stand being in here all day. I haven't left this prison in two weeks! I would go, but Papa says I can't go alone!" She exclaimed.

Da thought a moment. A day out is just what she needed. No worries of nightmares or falling asleep when there were tons of people around you like in the village. "Do you want me to come with you?" Da asked.

"Oh Yes PLEASE! It would be lovely!" Xiao threw her hands around Da's neck.

"Buut... I'll… need to… live to do…that!" Da managed to get out. Xiao's hug was killing her.

"Oh, right, sorry. So when do we leave?" Xiao asked blinking.

"How about right after you give those to Mama. It would give me enough time to-"

Xiao zipped by her with the flowers.

"… get the horses." Da finished before signing. She would have to learn how to talk faster.

_**--**_

Xiao inhaled the many aromas that the village always carried: Sweet chicken, meat buns, cheap perfume, and sweat from the working men. The pier brought an extra bonus of a salty mist that circled the village square. She loved these smells; they always reminded her of freedom.

"Where do you want to stop first?" Da asked, breaking her sister's intense thinking.

"I don't know, how about that station?" Xiao pointed to a station that had tons of beaded necklaces on the top roll.

"Fine by me." Da Qiao walked over to the brightly colored assortment of beads with her sister. The woman manning it turned and bowed to the pair as they approached with smiles.

"Hallo! Cin I halp yoo, Ma Laddies?" The woman spoke.

Xiao smiles at the woman's attempt at the Chinese language. It was quite amusing.

"No thank you." Da answered her question.

Xiao looked at Da in a way that said "Did you hear her?" Da picked up a red necklace and ignored Xiao's looks for the time being.

The sisters walked the village for awhile before the sun started to set. Da turned over to Xiao and smiled at the girl's many hand bags. "Are you ready to go?"

"What? Go? I was just getting started!" Xiao said as she steadied her bags. A few maids came to help but Xiao shrugged them off. "I can carry this myself!" she informed them. "And I'm not ready to go home!" Xiao complained to Da.

"Xiao, honey, you look like you're a tree growing bags!" Da said as she took some of the bags from Xiao.

"But I still don't want to go home!" Xiao made a pouting face.

Da thought for a moment. "If I promise I will take you back here tomorrow, can we go home now? It's suppertime and Papa might get worried, you know how his temper can be if he thinks we were abducted… again."

Xiao signed. "Okay, but we have to come back tomorrow."

"Yes, Xiao." Da smiled at her younger sister.

Due to the many shopping bags, the girls had to ride home in one of the family carriages.

"What do you think Papa will say when he sees all these bags?" Xiao asked on the way home.

"Maybe we can get them in before he sees." Da said as the girls looked at the bags that were so big they had to have a whole seat to themselves.

"I don't know. You know how he is: smelling our little secrets out."

"We'll get the maids to bring them in, Tao knows they need something to do."

Xiao giggled. "Maybe we can convince Papa to relieve some of them."

"I doubt it." Da shrugged. "They can massage at least."

The carriage pulled to a stop in front of the Qiao manor and Xiao jumped out. "I'll distract Papa while you get these bags in unnoticed." Xiao dashed in the building before Da could protest.

Da turned to the stage coach who had been in the family for many years and was one of the most trusted of employees. "Not even my bags and I have to take them in!" The man laughed as Da began barking orders.

Da noticed that something was different about the air around the castle. She looked around and noticed a carriage that seemed oddly familiar, but she knew she hadn't seen it before, or in a long time. She slowly ascended the stairs as the carriage went around to the kitchen to sneak the bags in unnoticed.

She walked into the doors as the family's guards opened them, and was greeted by a maid.

"You ladyship, the Grand Duke wants you to change into some 'mingling clothes' and come to the dinning hall." The maid said as she bowed.

"Are there guests, Zan?" Da asked the maid.

"Yes, my lady, there are. Two handsome men from another country."

"They are not looking for marriage?"

"Oh, no, my lady! No! They want a trade agreement with his Grace."

"Oh, thank heavens! Has my sister been told?"

"Yes, mum, she's changing right now. I expect she'll be down shortly."

"Okay, good. I will change and tell my father I will be late to come." Da said as she hurried off to change.

"Yes, mum!" the maid called after her.

Da rushed up the stairs to her room and called Hula in. "Help me change, will you? Get my blue court dress out. I feel like dressing up for tonight."

"Yes, my lady." The tone in Hula's voice made Da's head spin.

"What's wrong?" Da asked.

"Nothing, Miss." Hula turned and left the room and came back with Da's dress.

"Hula," Da got the maid's attention. "what's going on?"

"It could be nothing, Miss, but Lord Cao Cao's down there talking to the Duke, and I think I heard him talk about marriage." Hula's eyes were filled with worry.

"Hula, Lord Cao is a man of great power. He can marry a woman."

"Not _woman, _women! And, my lady, it's not just any women, you and Lady Xiao!"

"What?" Da said barely above a whisper.

"He wants to marry you and Lady Xiao! He said so to the Duke himself! I went a-looking for you to change, and I went in the kitchen and everyone in there hear it, Miss. Grand Duke said that you and her weren't old enough to be married yet, and Lord Cao looked mad."

"Father's trying to get us out of it. Maybe I should go-"

"No! My lady, they were having an argument when I left! Miss Duchess left them to have it out."

"What about Xiao? And I heard there were two men."

"Lady Xiao is in her room, Taka is stalling her. And yes, miss, there are two men, the Lord and a bodyguard!"

"Then Father's outnumbered!"

"My lady, they won't get to that! The Grand Duke has a family to think about. If he insults the Lord, then Cao Cao can kick him out of this realm, being's it's his land-"

"I will have them one way or another!" they heard someone out the window say.

Da ran over to the window and looked out just in time to see Cao Cao step out of the manor and get into his carriage that Da had noticed before. A mountain of a man climbed in after him and the carriage took off.

Da left her room and started down the hallway and ran into someone. She stared into eyes that were very much like her own and one look at Xiao and she knew that Xiao knew as well. They both looked at each other and walked into the dining hall where their parents sat silently.

Xiao looked at Da and they looked at Qiao Xuan. He and his wife turned to them and proudness mixed with love flashed both their eyes. Xiao and Da both went to their parents and the family embraced each other in silent words.

_**-- **_

Xiao turned over again as she wrestled with sleep to come. She couldn't forget the look in her father's eyes as she and Da walked into the room. That proud, loving feeling. It made her feel good and warm inside, but made her mad at Cao Cao for depressing her parents.

Deciding that she couldn't go to sleep, Xiao got out of bed and walked to the balcony and opened the doors. The cold, winter wind rushed in and embraced her in its chill. She slightly shivered and walked out and leaned against the railing. She thought about life and how for one minute you can be fine, and the next, you're falling. She shook her head at the bad in the world. Why couldn't everyone be happy and live in peace?

She thought about Cao Cao again and her hand made a fist. She swore she would never marry a man such as he.

_**--**_

The manor had returned to normal the next day, and the family agreed that it was best to not speak of what happened the last day.

"So what are you two girls doing today?" the Duchess asked her daughters as she fed her niece, Lulu.

"Da's taking me to the village." Xiao told her parents as she ate her breakfast.

"Again?" their father asked. "I thought you two went yesterday."

"We did, but Xiao wants to go back today." Da told them. "I promised I would take her."

"Well whatever it is that you two do, have fun." Their mother said.

"Oh, we will!" both said in unison.

"Guess what I and Lulu are going to do today?" the duchess asked them.

"What?" They all asked.

"First, we'll decorate the nursery, then the rooms, and then the dinning hall! Doesn't that sound like fun?"

The girls looked at their father and he shook his head.

Da and Xiao walked to the other part of the village that they didn't go to the day before. This part had many more delicacies than the other but they were higher here, so Da gave Xiao as spending limit. They were doing well with only two bags so far.

"Oh, Da! Look at these!" Xiao walked to a vender that was holding up head beads.

"Yes, they're lovely." Da commented.

The woman smiled at them. "Do you like them?" she asked Xiao.

"Oh, yes. They're pretty." Xiao said.

"What about this one? It matches your eyes." The woman held up a green band and Xiao held it.

"It's so pretty." She mumbled.

"Do you want it?" Da asked.

"Can I get it?" Xiao asked with stars in her eyes.

"Will you wear it?"

"Oh, yes! Everyday!"

"Okay then, but it."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Xiao hugged her sister.

"Go ahead and pay for it while I look around."

Da judged her surroundings and smiled as she went to the next station that had paintings on it and smiled as she thought how her mother would love the painting because it went well with the color of the dinning room. She asked the vender how much it was, agreed with the price, and paid for the painting and had it wrapped up tight so her mother would have fun with Lulu trying to get the wrapping off. That was always her favorite thing about presents.

She walked a little ways and turned to see if Xiao was through with the vender, but saw that her sister was looking at other bands and shook he head. She smiled at Xiao and thought there would never be another one like her.

A particular station grabbed her eye and she walked over and ran her hand along the many different colored rocks. She smiled as she picked up a red one: her favorite color. She put it down with the excuse that she would never use it and walked further. She examined the many faces around her and smiled. Her homeland was home to some of the most dedicated people she had ever known. Her vision ran to the pier that was far, but you could see glimpses.

Suddenly, her vision caught a pair of eyes. She recognized them instantly: the man who had haunted her dreams for the last two years. His body had grown and his face more manly. His hair had grown longer and his eyes had a darker tent to them from the last time she had seen him. His body had grown leaner and more built. His unforgettable eyes stared at her with a fiery intensity that made her knees grow weak: a feeling that only he had been able to do.

"_Ce…" _she managed to breathe.

Immediately, someone pulled on her package to her mother, "Watcha get?" Xiao asked.

Da turned to Xiao then to the last place she saw Him. She looked around, but she couldn't see him anymore.

"Sis?" Xiao asked as she waved her hand in front of Da. Da turned to her and Xiao stepped back. "Wow! You look like you've seen a ghost!"

Da didn't speak for several minutes. Xiao examined her face and looked in the direction her sister was looking in.

Finally, Xiao spoke, "How about we come tomorrow? We can go to the pier to pick up the dresses that we ordered last week."

Da looked at her then took a deep breath. "Let's go home. And yes, we can come back tomorrow."

_**His eyes watched her as she walked away with her sister. His breathing was becoming hard to manage. He thanked the gods for Xiao's entry into their staring. If she hadn't, they would've stayed in that staring position all day because her eyes were so alluring and her beauty astounding. But he knew it wasn't to be. She had grown up and so had he.**_

**XXX**

"_Wanna go horseback ridding tomorrow?" Sun Ce asked Da Qiao as they were walking towards her door._

"_That sounds lovely." Da commented, smiling._

"_You don't want to go do you?" he asked her._

"_Of course I do! Whatever made you think I didn't?" She asked curiously._

"_Nothing," Ce said as they stopped at her door. "just the sound of your voice."_

"_I was just saying that it sounded very lovely. I would love to go ridding with you Ce. It would be nice…" her talking was interrupted by Ce rolling his eyes and pulling her into a…_

Da awoke herself purposely to keep her from finishing her dream. She turned over and fiddled with the bed sheets. She had had a scare today, and she blamed her dream on that. Along with the stress form two days ago, anyone could have bad dreams.

She nodded her head. That's right, just stress.

_But does stress lead to hallucinating?_ She wondered. That could be why she had seen… him.

She signed and rolled over on her other side to see if she could sleep and as she awoke again, she realized she wasn't going to get very much sleep.

Xiao Qiao ran the horse brush thru her horse's fine hair again and thought about her sister's facial expression yesterday. It was one she hadn't seen before, one of pure shock. She wondered why Da had that expression on her face and came up with no answers. She thought about her family in general. She thought about how Cao Cao thought he had the right to come and take them away and snarled. How dare he! She knew that ordinary women didn't get much say in the matter of marriage, but she was no ordinary woman! She would choose a husband thank you very much!

Her pretty face now had a snarl on it and her brushing became fast when her sister walked in and broke her thinking.

"What's that look for?" Da asked as she got a brush from the rack.

"What look?" Xiao asked.

"That look like you're going to kill someone."

"Oh, I was just thinking of Cao Cao, and how he thought he had the right to take us away."

"Oh, that would give someone a headache." Da said as she went thru her horse's hair. "Are we still going to the pier today?"

"I thought we were, unless you're going to have another one of those little weird things happen again." Xiao watched Da's movements out of the corner of her eye.

"No, I won't." Da said smiling.

"Are you sure? 'Cause we can stay here if you want."

"No, thanks. I need the day out." Da said as a stable boy saddled he horse.

"Good, because the fresh air will do you good." Xiao said with a mischievous smile.

"Yes, Papa." Da mocked as Xiao said one of their father's most used phrases.

Xiao smiled, glad that her sister was OK.

_**--**_

The pier was Xiao's favoriteplace in the village square to go to. At dawn, you got a spectacular view of the sunrise and in the evening, you could swear you saw heaven from the golden creases in the clouds. She loved the salty sea smell that filled the air when the wind blew.

"Where do you want to start?" Da asked as Xiao took a deep breath.

"Ahh, how about we go to one of the boats and check what they have from the other countries?"

"How about we check and see if Lozza has and if our dresses are done? You never know how long it may take."

"Oh, I almost forgot." Xiao admitted.

"Well, I guess we should get this done and over with." Da said.

Xiao nodded and the two turned around and walked to the fabric designer… slowly.

"Ah! I waz afraid dat yoo foorgat!" Lozza, the family's longtime dress and suit maker said a the Qiaos walked in. Lozza was from somewhere west. The Qiao's never asked because Lozza got silent when the subject was brought up.

"Well, we're here to try them out." Xiao said sarcastically. Trying on the dress was the part that Xiao hated because Lozza always had to do something to the dress because it was too small, or too large. She had to take dimensions of what the dress should be, although she already had taken the measurements the day they were ordered.

"Alrizze! Letz get yoo in dat dress Ziao!"

Xiao went into the dressing room and, behind Lozza's back, begged Da to save her. Da laughed and shook her head at her immature sister and sat down in one if the waiting chairs.

"Uh, sis?" Xiao said as she entered Da's view.

Da gapped. Never had Lozza done a bad job before! The top was too small and the bottom was too big. It made Xiao look like a Christmas tree!

"I gezz we'll have to zstart over…" Lozza said as she looked at Xiao's outfit.

Da nodded, her mouth still agape. Xiao wobbled back and it took three maids to get the dress off.

Unfortunately, most of the other dresses came out the same. Xiao was sore, and she sat by Da and Da rubbed her back while Lozza wrote on a piece of paper.

"I will get to this immediately, well, as soon as I'm through with your sizing, Lady Da, but I fear it will be the same as your sister's. Nevertheless, we need to try on a dress just in case. Tann!" Lozza called for her assistant.

"Are you okay?" Da asked Xiao.

"I'm going to see how horrible I look." Xiao said a she got up.

\She began to walk to the mirror, but Tann walked into her and spilled the red dye that she had been carrying all over Xiao.

"Xiao!"

"My lady!"

"Oh, my!"

Da, Lozza, and Tann said at the same time.

Da and Lozza helped Xiao up, then Lozza started talking to her assistant hard in Italian.

"Oh, my!" Da said. "You need to go get that off now, before you're hair turns red."

"But you have to try on dresses!" Xiao said.

"I can handle that! Get home and tell Taka to soak you in hot water! I'll be over in a bit."

"But-"

"GO!" Da ordered and Xiao rushed out the door and Da saw her horse fly off to the castle followed by her bodyguard.

"I'm very zorry, my lady! It won't happen zagain!" Lozza promised.

"It's okay, accidents happen." Da assured their dressmaker.

"But zis one will not happen zagain!" Lozza looked at her assistant hard and turned to Da. "Please give ze Lady Qiao my zincerezt apologeez!"

"Oh, she will understand. She's a clumsy person herself."

"But it will ruin her dress!" Tann said, finally speaking.

Da smiled. "She's getting new ones! Let's just try on the dresses."

Da's figure had been bent into so many ways that she didn't know where she began and where she ended. She stepped out of the store with a wince and started to walk and her muscles were getting better. She realized that it was nighttime now, and the Mother Moon was shining bright in the sky. She decided that a walk around the pier was just what she needed to get the kinks out of her stiff overworked body.

She walked and enjoyed the moon flashing on her back when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned sharply and saw two men walking a short distance across the street. The way one of them walked looked familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on him. The blazers gave enough light to tell he was a guy, but his face was hidden in the shadows of the Mother Moon.

She walked a little further and put her arms around her to shield her from the winter cold. Her shawl wasn't doing very good to keep the cold from her. She heard the footsteps again and stopped as if she was looking into a closed store window. She looked through the reflection that the window provided and saw that the guys had stopped as well.

She walked and feigned that her shoe had a malfunction and bent over to correct this. She picked her shoe up and examined it, then took the other off. She watched the men and one nodded his head towards her and they both moved. That was all she needed to convince her that she needed to run.

She took off down the street with the sound of the trailing footsteps pounding in her ear. She dashed down an alleyway and turned left to the pier. She knocked down a barrel of apples and continued running. She heard that the barrel crashing didn't stop them. She heard them coming and she saw the ocean and got an idea. She started to pull her hair down and threw her shawl off and jumped off the dock. She was immediately paralyzed at the cold, but soon, instinct kicked in and she began to swim.

Her body began to feel stiff and she felt her strength began to seep from the cold. She pulled herself further and further from the dock and swam till she thought she was safe and surfaced. She checked her surroundings and saw that she was a good distance away from the dock and she couldn't see any of the men.

_What if they're in the water?_ She asked herself. This made her scared and she began to swim, but noticed that her arms kept getting harder and harder to move.

She took a deep breath and dove in the water and swam till she hit a boat. She felt thoroughly exhausted and clung to the boat for fear of not having the strength to stay up. Her eyelids felt heavy and it took a lot of effort to keep from slipping and sinking to the bottom. She saw a dock and thought if she could make it there, she'd be fine and could get help. She took a long risk and tried to swim to the dock. She kept sinking and it took a lot of her reserved strength to get over there.

She finally made it and heard someone on the boat yell something and she tried to get on the dock, but everything was spinning now, she the next thing she knew, she was sinking again into the water, only this time she didn't have the strength to pull herself up to the dock. She felt the cold water cover her face.

Suddenly, she was lifted from the cold water and a pair of strong, familiar arms picked her up.

"Hold on, Da!" the familiar voice cried.

Da's head went limp, though, and everything went black…

**XXXXX**

**So, who saved her life? You're going to have to review to find out!!**


	5. Wanna Invite?

**An update. Finally. Alright, you haveta read the paragraphs in order for you to truly understand this. Otherwise, you will be lost, I assure you.**

**Don't be like me and skim through things. It's a nasty habit. ;-P**

* * *

"Hold on, Da!" Sun Ce yelled. But her head went limp and her body stopped it's quivering. "Shit!" He cursed. He had to get her to some heat of some sort… He ran up the ledge, and down the walkway to his quarters.

"Is there anything we can do, sire?" one member of the crew asked as he eyed Da.

"Get Zhou Yu! And get some servants to prepare a bath. A hot one! And bring me some hot brandy!" Ce ordered as he ran to his quarters with Da. The sailor turned and left knowing that he needed to carry out his orders fast. He started yelling orders to the other sails men who were standing in the hallway, watching for their own curiosity.

Sun Ce entered his room and set Da on the bed. He ran to the fireplace and started to throw logs into it to feed the flames. He needed all the flames and heat he could get. He then calmed down and looked at Da. Her lips were a pale blue, and her body was shivering, but those were fading quickly. For a year at sea, he knew the consequences of frostbite, and started to pull her wet clothes off of her, but couldn't get the buttons to work right, so he took out a knife and started to cut the fabric.

"Here you go, my lord. It's the brandy you asked for." The sailor came up and handed him the cup.

"Thanks." He set it on his desk then returned to Da. "Did you find Zhou Yu?"

"Aye, sire, but he was undressed. It'll be a few minutes before he gets in here."

"No, just tell him to watch the brig. I'm taking care of this. Tell him that I'll explain everything later."

The sailor turned and left as another came in. He was just a cabin boy, no older than sixteen. "The bath you ordered, my lo-" The boy stopped short when he saw Da Qiao and her beauty, not to mention the fact that part of her dress was undone, revealing her undergarments.

It was then that Ce realized that undressing her while his crew members were coming in and out was not the best idea. She didn't have the same parts as them. And her beauty was one that would make any man want to take her clothes off. Ce didn't think that she wanted so many men to see her goods, either. And he didn't want another man to see her. That confused him.

"Set it down in the corner and go outside and stay at the door. No one comes in." Ce ordered cautiously. The boy nearly cowered as Ce used his princely authority voice, but did as instructed and left.

Ce stripped Da down and got her in the tub. Had it been any other situation, he would've enjoyed the sight before him, but this was life or death for her. He needed to work quickly…

Sun Ce watched her while she slept in his bed that seemed, with the addition of his huge t-shirt, the only thing she was wearing, to be eating her whole. He had to dispose of her clothes, seeming as they weren't meant for diving in, and they had shrunk to a degree that a child would enjoy wearing them. He only wondered what she would say to him undressing her, then watching her while she slept.

Her breathing came out in even breaths from her mouth which was parted slightly, and her hair, after he had pulled out all the clips and pins earlier in the night, draped over his pillow, shah-shaying it in black silk. Her skin was milky and creamy, and seemed soft, even to a touch. She hadn't moved from that position since he had put her in the bed. This concerned him, but she was looking healthy, and dismissed it from his mind.

He watched her from a distance in a hammock in the corner of his cabin that he had put up earlier in the night, after she had regained color.

She was so utterly lovely. He thought about what she would say to him, and what she would say to him being back in her life, then it hit him. Maybe he should stay out of her life, and conduct his affairs with her father in private, that way she didn't stop living the way she had for the last two years. He remembered the pain he had felt when she had left, and didn't want her to have that pain either, when he left.

He stayed where he was for several moments, thinking about the consequences of him just letting her go. He had just got her back… But he had rather take the pain…than her. He got up and put on his boots, a plan already forming in his head. He needed to stay out of her life. He didn't want to hurt her again…

* * *

Da Qiao's steady breathing ended as she took one deep one and opened her eyes. She blinked several times before turning her head to where she was staring straight into her room's ceiling. Her throat had that thirsty feeling to it, and she swallowed several times before wondering what could possibly make her that thirsty. She felt something along the lines of a breeze go along her hair, and she turned to look up into her bedroom window. It was open, which was odd to her. She never kept it open, but she dismissed it as one of the maid's doing. She figured now was a better time than ever to get up and freshen up before having breakfast with her parents. Besides, the day wasn't going to stop for her.

She got up and walked to the stand where she usually washed her face at, and tilted the pot to where water was coming out of it's mouth and into the bowl beneath it. As she worked, she couldn't help the eerie feeling that she was forgetting something. She tried to think about what it was, but last night was a blur to her. She pulled a rag out of a shelf below the stand and started to dip it in the water, but when her fingers touched the liquid, flashbacks hit…

Her encounter with him in the village

Her running away from the figures

The bone-chilling fear that gripped her while she ran

Her tipping barrels

The icy cold water that drained her

The feeling of absolute defeat to death as she nearly drown, and then…

The voice, his voice. His familiar, comforting, panicked voice.

He was here. In the same country. In the same province. In her father's estate. So close to her…

The bowl that went clattering to the floor was what woke her up, and opened her eyes. She looked at the bowl in the floor and the mess she had made before looking into the mirror in front of her.

WHAT WAS SHE WEARING?!?! The only things she had on were a large shirt, one she never has seen on herself before, and a handkerchief was wrapped around her arm, close to her shoulder.

She looked at the kerchief, then the shirt. She was quite sure that neither of them were hers. The shirt was outrageously too big for her, and the kerchief wasn't hers, or her father's, and it obviously belonged to a man, no doubt. She sat there for a minute, staring at it as it was tied around her arm before remembering that sometimes kerchiefs had identification tags, like initials. She started to try to pull it off, when she noticed the knot. It was one of a sailor, one she had seen her father do many times, being an ex-sailor himself.

It took difficulty, but when she removed it, she realized why the fabric was there, and bloodstained. She had a gash underneath it. It wasn't deep, but you could tell that it bled a lot. She wondered how she had gotten it, but was more curious about the fabric than it's stainer. She unscrambled it and held it open to reveal it's secrets. She found backwards letters on the top, left corner, and turned it over to see what they were…

_S.C._

Somewhere in her mind, she knew it was his, she knew it was him who pulled her out, she just didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to think that he was so close to her.

It was then she wondered how in the world she got home.

"Hula!" Da called.

The stout maid came in, looking worried. She saw the bowl on the floor and jumped to conclusions.

"Oh, miss, you spilled it! I'll get someone to clean it up and bring you up some more."

"No, Hula, I'm not worried about that!" Da said. She then sighed. "I'm going to ask you a weird question, Hula, and I want you to answer it honestly."

Hula sighed. "My lady, I don't know how many times to tell you, but you have no hump on your belly that makes you look fat."

"No Hula! I want to know how I got home last night! In this room!" Da exasperated.

"I assume that you took your horse home and walked up the steps to here." Hula said, confused.

"Assume?" Da Qiao asked.

"Why, yes." Hula hesitantly nodded.

"But you didn't see me come up?" This was just confirming what she already knew in her heart.

Hula looked down, brow furrowed in concentration, "No, ma'am, I didn't see you."

Da nodded. "Did you open my window by chance?" she asked, pointing behind her.

Hula looked surprised. "No, my lady, I thought you did."

"Do you recognize this shirt?" Da Qiao asked as she pinched the shirt.

"No, ma'am, I don't." Hula looked worried at Da's constant questions.

Da Qiao nodded and looked down, lost in thought.

"Do I need to worry about this, ma'am?" Hula asked her.

Da, thinking it better than to bring up the subject of what her theory was at what had happened last night because her thought could be wrong, smiled reassuringly, "No, Hula, I'm fine. I just forgot, that's all." She prayed she was wrong. So desperately wrong…

The maid didn't look convinced, though.

"I'm fine, Hula, really." Da assured her again.

Hula raised an eyebrow.

"Are my parents up?" Da asked, trying to upstage Hula's thoughts from her current appearance.

"Yes, ma'am. They are down there waiting on you and your sister to get down there to have breakfast."

Da nodded. "Xiao isn't up?"

"No, ma'am."

Da nodded again, looking thoughtful. She looked at the kerchief, and thought maybe she should return it, in doing this, maybe she will see if it really was him and not some crazy nightmare, conjured up by her brain in the middle of the night to torture her… but part of her thought it best to keep it a secret from her maid, at least for a little while, until she had her facts straight. But it's not like she could just tell the maid she wanted peace and dismiss her for an hour or two so she could make her own escape out of the window. It would only raise the woman's suspicions more. She needed a tactic that would diverge the maid's thought, and leave no doubt in her mind that her mistress was fine, and not doing anything suspicious… Then it hit her. Mentally, she smiled.

She let her eyes sag lazily then yawned. "Hula, I think I will rest for a few more hours. Please inform my parents that I am still tired, and I will miss breakfast with them, but will attend lunch." She put the kerchief on the stand beside her bed.

Hula's suspicious stare at her mistress for answers, quickly changed into one of surprise. "Um, are you sure, my lady? Are you ill?"

"Oh, no. Just tired. And yes, I'm quite sure, I did have a rather terrible night's sleep. And so you are not having to wait on me to wake, and I'm sure I will not require you services, or the other maid's in order to sleep, you are all dismissed till lunch after you give my parents my apologies. Please inform them and tell the guards that I do not wish to be disturbed, if you please. No one is to open my door." Da said as she climbed into bed, and played the sleep-filled hostess

Hula took backward paces towards the door. "Yes, Lady Da, um, do you need anything else? A cold towel? Some brandy?" Hula asked as she slowly walked towards the door.

"Oh, no. I'm quite alright, just sleepy." she tucked her covers under her chin and closed her eyes.

Da heard the soft click of the door as Hula exited, and listened to her talk to the other maids, then the guards, then listened as the maids giggled down the hall, and stayed silent as she heard her guards take their place. As soon as a few minutes passed, she silently moved off the bed and to the wardrobe, stepping over the squeaky floorboards on her floor she had memorized, and pulled out a simple garment and a cloak, one that had sleeves, she made sure. She didn't want to take the risk of running into anyone familiar on her voyage to see if he was here, so cloaking all of herself, even her dainty arms, was a must. She had to be silent so the guards, or anyone below, heard her while she closed the wardrobe doors.

She dressed silently, and didn't even bother with her hair, other than brushing through it with her fingers. No one would see her anyway. Now that she was dressed, came the hard part. She had to get off her father's land, with her horse, assuming it was there, and not be seen, which was dang near impossible, seeing as her father took more precautions, especially after Cao Cao and his bout. But the precautions usually amounted as giving her and her sister more guards to watch after them, he had not yet gotten to posting more men on the outside of the castle, so maybe she had hope.

The first thing she did was climb out of the window, carrying his things on a pouch that went on her back like a backpack, and make her way on it's sill to the vines that were growing along the walls of her father's castle. After grasping the green strings, she looked around her window drop area and saw no one, and began to descend and it wasn't long, not being a goodly sum of distance from window to ground, that she dropped to the ground and hugged the wall corner that she would have to round to get to the stables. She pulled her hood on from her cloak, and stole a peak to the stables, and silently prayed thanks to there being no men around it.

She tore off in a sprint to it's doors, the stable being wide out in the open wasn't a good thing, and she decided that clearing the distance quickly might help her out more than just creeping it. As soon as she got to it's doors, she flung them open, and ran inside to her horse.

"Come on girl." she whispered, and put reins on her, and a saddle. Da was about to climb on her, when a deep, accented voice spoke to her, making her jump, from the stables shadows, a voice she recognized instantly.

"Where do you plan on going in such a hurry, Lady Da Qiao?" The stable master asked as he pulled out of the shadows.

"Oh, Paupo, you gave me a fright!" Da Qiao said as she put a hand on her heart.

"People only get a fright when they think they's 'bout to be caught. You plan on doing mischief, eh?" he asked as he helped her on her horse. "Seeing a man?"

"Something like that." Da answered. "But Papa must not know, Paupo."

The man still held the reins and looked at her from a lengthy amount of time, making her nervous that he might tell.

"I thought something was up when your horse came to the stables alone. I tell you what." he said finally. "I will only let you pass, if you let me meet the boy."

Da looked shocked. "How do you expect me to do that? Are you coming along?"

"No, no, my lady," the man reached into his pocked and pulled out a couple of invitations.

"You must invite him to your mother's ball happening tomorrow night."

Da gasped. She had forgotten all about that. "Oh, my, Paupo! I nearly forgotten! Good thing I picked my dress early. Mother would've killed me." She picked up the invites. "Are you sure this is what will make you stay quiet? No money?" She asked desperately. She didn't want to do this.

"I am not a greedy man, princess, and I want to know I will make the right choice here and now." he said. "This is my only wish."

Da looked at him before nodding and sticking them in her pouch and grabbing the reins from him. "I will keep my promise." She swore him.

"I know. I know you. And don't forget to address them to him." He said. "I will distract the guards at the gates, and I want you to pass through afterward, but I do this only because I know you will make good decisions."

Da smiled from beneath her hood. "Thank you, and I will give them to him."

Paupo nodded, then ran out to the guards, arms flaying out. "Help! Help! There's a man in the kitchen who is stealing food!"

The guards stood for a moment, before realizing what he said and flew into action, running in a full sprint into the kitchen. Paupo watched them go, then hurried to the gate and used the wheel to open it. Da's horse came out of the stables and ran towards the gate, her cloak flying behind her like a cape.

"Go, my lady! Go!" he yelled to her as she passed, waving his straw hat in a fanlike motion, trying to make her go faster. When she was gone down the street and he could no longer see her, he laughed heartedly, and returned to the stables, and into the shadows while the guards searched for the food stealer to no avail.

* * *

Sun Ce's crew was already working when he got out that morning. He was blessed with such a crew, and nodded to them as he went by, inspecting their work. It had been a full year as he was at sea, and his crew stayed by him faithfully, only slipping up every now and again, but these usually happened when one crew member got too drunk one night at port or a slow night at sea, and wanted to start a fight. It was easy for Sun Ce to put the man down, having more than enough battle experience to deal with these men. He ran his ship with a firm hand, and kept the ship in top condition. His crew highly respected him, and never dared to come against him, unless he was wrong and they knew it. But there was hardly a time when he was wrong. His ship's name was _The_ _Conqueror, _one name that was now known all through the market business, and when spoken, gave an aura of respect and authority at it's captain.

He heard an order being called, and turned back to see Zhou Yu, his sworn-brother and second-in-command, directing where shipments of furniture and the like were to be dropped, and then what storage cabin below to put them in. When Ce first came up to Zhou Yu, and said that he wanted to explore the country on ship and start trading routes to help Jiang Dong's economy grow, Zhou Yu thought the man crazy, but when Ce explained, Yu began to listen to where his friend was coming from and agreed to help participate in the new Wu lord's wishes.

As if feeling that Ce's eyes were upon him, Yu turned to see him, and then jumped from the upper deck to the lower, then running to Ce.

"Ce," he began to speak, not needing to use titles such as captain or lord with him due to the friendship between the two. "We are going to be bringing a large shipment in, where would you want me to put it?"

"What does it contain?"

"Glassware and other breakables." Yu answered.

Ce nodded, then thought. "Send them to the storage room containing furniture. Set them in the middle of the room so that they won't be able to rock much and break." Yu nodded and ran off to the crew to give them orders to tie the shipment up with the ropes, and get ready to lower it into the storage area.

Ce looked at his sails and the roping that went around it, and the rest of the ship. He followed the ropes around his ship till he saw one that looked iffy, and decided it was better to check it out now than to be sorry for not later when they were sailing. He walked to the rope closest to the question one, and swung his arms back and forward before jumping onto the rope and starting to climb. His arms were loving the use he put to them, but his legs, he did not use. The rode up the rope with him while he climbed up, arms buffing out to their extremes. When he got to the spot he wanted, he reached over and examined the other rope, finding nothing wrong with it. He examined the other ones as well, not really expecting them to be damaged, but better safe than sorry, he thought. As soon as he was through with his task, he went back down the ropes, then decided what the hell, and climbed them again.

You only live once. Besides, the pain in his arms seemed to help him forget about the pain in his heart…

* * *

Da Qiao watched him as he ascended the ripe for a second time. She was captured at his sheer strength, and marveled at his ability to ascend the rope without the use of his legs. As if she needed the second time to gape at his impressive muscles…and his body…

She just stood where she was, mesmerized. Being an artist, she explored every inch of his body. His abdominal area contoured and moved as the muscles contracted, his arms, when he used them, let you see every muscle crease and your mouth would gawk at it. His eyes and his face told you of the determination that he was using. His legs, though, were just extra something. He didn't use them, which surprised and shocked her. What he was doing only made him use his upper body strength alone.

He was truly a magnificent sight.

Da shook her head mentally. What was she doing?! Now was the perfect time to hand a crew member the package and leave the place unseen by him, like she had earlier planned. Now, she just needed to find someone to give it to…someone who wouldn't steal it…

Her eyes his a familiar face, and she gasped in shock with recognition before pulling herself back together again and studied Zhou Yu with a smile that said she was being silly, and should've expected his presence there with Sun Ce.

"_Of course he would be here, silly!" _Da Qiao thought, "_Sworn-brother, remember?"_ What she wanted to know is why they were here.

He had changed about as much as Ce. His hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, and he had grown better into his body. She thought again about the package in her hand and a small smile showed up on her soft lips, only to be hidden by the hood of her cloak.

Clutching the package tightly to her chest, she started over to the ship, her heart thudding rapidly, and by the time she reached the boat, it seemed to want to jump out of her throat. She stood at the bottom of the gangplank and, disguising her voice as a husky gentleman, called up to Zhou Yu.

"My lord?" she called.

Zhou Yu turned and raised an eyebrow at the figure on the dock. The cloak, and the fact that he had his good up, automatically made Yu suspicious. He went down the plank cautiously, the spare dagger he kept in a hidden pocket in his breeches, easily within reach.

"Can I help you?" he asked as he cleared the last few steps and stepped onto the dock with the man.

"I have a package for Lord Sun." the cloaked figure replied, and held a package, carefully wrapped, out to Yu.

Zhou Yu took it cautiously and raised a brow. "May I ask who it's from?"

"An old acquaintance." she replied, and Yu saw the shimmer of the sun reflecting on teeth and knew the person was smiling.

"I will make sure that it gets to him." Yu replied.

The person nodded once then twisted, cloak flying, and back towards the village. Yu watched her for a moment, before going back to the ship and over to Ce, who was descending the ropes for a third time, his shirt now off.

"A package for you." Yu said up the rope.

"Me?" Ce asked and jumped off the ropes. At Yu's nod, he asked, "From who?"

"They only said and old acquaintance." Yu handed the package to Ce.

"Well," he said as he pulled his shirt back on, and took the package. "let's see what we've got here…"

* * *

Da Qiao stood beside a building, half of her hiding, and half standing out in defiance as she watched his reaction as he opened the package. As soon as he saw the contents, his head popped up to Yu and asked a question…Yu gave an answer…the men said a few more things to each other before both started looking around, and after several seconds, which felt like an eternity to Da, Yu's body faced her direction, then he pointed towards her…

Or was he?

Da leaned in closer, but without the safety of the building, the wind blew the cloak's hood in her face, and, frustrated with it, she pulled the hood off her head, and her hair went down her shoulders, then to her waist. She turned to look at Ce, but saw him on the railing of his ship, one hand on a rope to hold himself up, and the other holding the package.

And he was staring straight at her.

It took a bad ache in her lungs and a dizziness in her head for her to realize that she wasn't breathing. She looked down, freeing herself of his captivating gaze, and breathed deeply several times before looking up at him again. She saw a member of his crew come over to him handing him a piece of paper that was folded. She instantly recognized it as her invitations, and thought now as good as any to get outta there…

* * *

"Beggin' yer pardon, capt'n," the crews man said as he held out a paper. "but ya dropped 'dis."

Sun Ce turned away from Da Qiao, and looked at the crewmember, aware that Zhou Yu was staring intently at him, trying to read his emotions.

"I dropped that?" He asked. At the crewmember's nod, Ce jumped down from the railing, and took the paper. As he unfolded it, he stole another glance towards Da Qiao and noticed her getting up on a horse, and darting back towards the Qiao manor.

As soon as he unfolded it, another one just like it fell out. The member picked it up and handed it to Ce as he read the invitation, and a small smile showed up on his face. He turned it to see it addressed directly to him. He looked at the thing that fell out of it, and saw another invite, only not addressed.

"So she knows…" Ce said as he turned to the member and handed him his shirt and kerchief. "Take this to Jymi. Tell him to put it in my quarters." As soon as the man was gone, Yu spoke.

"What's going on Ce. How did that man have your clothes?"

Ce smiled as he turned to the way Da had left. "That was no man, Yu. Far from, actually."

Yu raised a brow. "A woman? Who?"

Sun Ce's smile grew and he turned to Yu. "Da."

Both Yu's brows raised to a degree. "Qiao? Why does she have your clothes?"

"Let's just say that she took a jump in the river. I helped her last night." Sun Ce gave Yu an invitation. "Here, this one was meant for you."

"What is it?" Yu asked as he unfolded it.

"I hope you have a nice suit, because we're going to a ball."

* * *

Her father once told her that there was a time for everything: a time to mourn, a time to dance, a time to laugh, and a time to love.

"_Now was a time to investigate." _Xiao Qiao mused aloud as she turned another corner to go to Da's room.

The fact that her sister had skipped breakfast worried her family, and Xiao couldn't help but have a feeling that something was going on that Da hadn't told her. Xiao knew whatever was going on revolved around Da, her odd behavior in the village, and now skipping breakfast. Something was up, and she wanted in.

She stopped when she noticed Da's guard stationed in front of her door, not letting anyone in.

"_Well that won't do."_ Xiao thought. If she had to kill her sister's guard, she was getting in. But she would try to pull rank first. Or maybe using some female encouragement would work here?

She paused, took a deep breath, shook herself mentally, then opened her eyes and smiled one of her best smiles, and strut, hips moving like a gypsy dancer, over to them. They spotted her, noticed the way she was walking, and stood very stiff.

"I wish to see my sister. Would you move, please?" She asked then made a pout that she usually used to wrap her many suitors around her finger with.

The oldest of the guard was the first to speak, but he stammered with his words "I-I'm sorry, m-my lady, but Lady D-Da—"

"It's quite alright." Da's melodic voice called from behind the wood of the doors. "She may enter."

Xiao smiled to the two guards and started to the doors, and the younger one, finally able to stabilize his knees, walked back and opened the door for her. She smiled at him before entering the room. The door shut slowly behind her, and she jumped when she heard Da's voice from behind her.

"You know, you really don't need to beguile my guard." She said. She was leaning her back against the wall where the door opened, one foot propped up against the wall. "I'll never get them to do anything now."

"I wouldn't have to if you didn't station them." Xiao said sarcastically. "Why weren't you at breakfast?"

"I was tired and wanted to sleep in. I got home last from trying on dresses." Da rolled her eyes.

"Oh." Xiao replied. "Are you hungry now?"

"No, not really. But I'm sure by lunchtime I'll be starving." Da said as she bumped off the wall and sat on a seat.

"Do you have any plans till then?" Xiao asked innocently as she scrapped the floor with her toe.

"No, why?" Da asked "Do you?"

Xiao shrugged. "I just thought we could ride the countryside today. I feel a little adventurous." That wasn't entirely true. Xiao knew Da better than anyone else. Da wouldn't talk here in public. Even in the confines of her room. Here, Da was a respected Duke's daughter, and played her part to a tee. She never let weakness show in the castle. Even when there was no one around to hear. Court ladies were constantly about, spreading rumors left and right. Many which were made up but were told like the lives of the teller depended on it. And most of the time, they were all wrong.

"Oh, I suspect you would, seeing how you enchanted my men."

"Oh, psht!" Xiao waved a hand of dismissal. "That's nothing! You should see what I do tomorrow night! I'll have so many of my suitors there, and _that's _where I'll lay my charms!"

Da smiled. "Oh, I have no doubt you will, but about this little country tour," Da said, changing the subject so she didn't have to think about the ball, or the fact that _he_ might be there. "do you want to pack a picnic and eat it down by the ocean? Not the pier, but up north? On the outer side of the peninsula?"

"Oh, that would be so wonderful!" Xiao said as she smiled and clapped her hands together. She was loving the fact that she could get Da out easily.

Da smiled and stood up. "Alright you go pack us a lunch while I go ask mama if she needs anything from the village. We could make a pit stop on coming home. I think she was deciding to redo the gardens today."

"Okay! I'll pack a lot of stuff. Seeing as you will be hungry." Xiao said excitedly, but when Da opened the door, she turned all flirty, and while she and Da walked away, she turned back to the young soldier at the door and blew him a kiss, earning her a death glare from Da.

___

Da Qiao watched Xiao pick flowers and run around the field while she herself sat with what was the remnants of their picnic. As she watched Xiao, she wondered if she should tell her what happened last night. She had already come to the conclusion that telling her father was out of the question. She and Xiao were only allowed to come on this outing with crisp understanding that they had to take bodyguards who, at the present, were standing near the horses. Telling him this new development would only make him double his efforts to keep them safe. She was leaning more to not telling Xiao. The more she thought about it, the more logical that choice became the best. The fact that he had undressed her then, by means she probably didn't want to know, warmed her, then, somehow, brought her to her room, unseen, was pretty personal.

Da signed and began to pack their belongings. Whatever way she went with Ce's lifesaving, she did need to have a talk with Xiao about Zhou Yu.

"My lady!" Came a voice behind her and she turned to see one of the family's messengers coming towards her on a horse. She got up and half-walked to meet him.

"What is it?" She asked.

"There is a visitor at the manor for you. Your mother told me to fetch you and bring you up."

"Do you know who it is?"

He shook his head. "I only know it as a man, madam."

Da signed, "It's probably Huang Xianng." Da said as she named one of her many suitors that constantly dogged her heels when he was ever in her vicinity. And he constantly came over to the castle, asking for her hand in marriage, though her father declined and at one point, had him removed from the castle in with the help of a sword.

"Will you be up shortly, madam?"

"Yes, give me a chance to talk with my sister, and send a carriage out this way. She may need it."

"Yes, milady." he bowed then rode on his horse back up towards the manor.

"Xiao!" Da called. Xiao whirled around to her, then came bouncing up towards her.

"Heya, sis! What's up?" Xiao asked as Da packed the picnic supplies in her horse.

"I have to go to the castle, Xiao. I have a guest. Go to the village and get mama's things. I'm sending a carriage along with you, and Link will go with you as well."

"Aw! C'mon! We haven't even gotten to talk!" Xiao complained.

"We can talk later, Xiao, I have to go." Da gave her a hug. "See you at the castle. And you are to be back by dinner, no longer or I will come looking for you with a team of guards."

"Why the curfew?" Xiao asked, arms folded.

"I just want you to be safe." Da said then smiled and kissed her cheek. She got on her horse, then pointed to Xiao with a final warning. "Dinner."

"Yeah, yeah." Xiao said as she rolled her eyes and went back to picking flowers.

Da rode up to Link, her trusted bodyguard, and he smiled up at her.

"Do I need to accompany you back, mistress?" he asked in his usual raspy voice.

"No, no, Link. I want you to stay with my sister. She's going into the village, and I don't want boys falling over her, okay?"

He bowed to her. "I will guard her like she was you."

"Thank you, and please keep an eye on her." she pleaded with him in worried eyes.

"I will." he promised

"Make sure that Yu Rue does the same." Da said as she spoke of Xiao's guard.

"My lady, you have a guest, best not keep him waiting."

Da smiled. "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Yes." he said with a smile to match hers.

She signed then pulled on her horse's reins and dashed towards the castle.

* * *

"Let me see if I have this all. So, you find her frostbitten from diving in water, for what purpose only Tao knows, bring her aboard our ship, undress her, then, when you're sure she'll live, bring her home. In hopes that she won't know who did it?" Zhou Yu asked Sun Ce. "And, somehow, she knows that it's you, then returns your stuff back in the guise of a man, and invites you to the ball happening tomorrow night?"

"Yup." Ce said as he inspected his suit he would wear the night of the ball in his cabin with Zhou Yu. "Funny, huh?"

"Puzzling." He suggested as his brows came together as he massaged his temples. "Do you know what in the world she was doing in the river? You would assume that she knew not to jump in there. Especially with the chill in it."

"I don't know. But I do know that Da's not stupid. She's got a good head on her shoulders, unlike those blasted court ladies. She had a reason." Ce said as he started to choose other colors.

"Do you think she told her father?" Yu asked as he ignored a harlot yelling suggestive things on the dock to the crew men.

"I don't know. I'd assume not. Seeing as he hasn't come down here to kill me for undressing his girl."

Yu knew what an emotional strain had gone on in Ce last night. He could only imagine what he himself would do had it been… Xiao Qiao. The thought of her just sent his heart doing flip-flops. Making him feel like it was a traitor to him trying not to get emotionally evolved in this…whatever.

Yu smiled though at his next question. "Do you think it will be awkward seeing her again?"

Ce picked up a piece of fabric, "I don't know, buddy. But how would you feel if it was Xiao?"

Yu was quiet for a moment. "Awkward." he finally admitted.

Ce continued to stare at the cape, then, deciding it was the one he wanted to wear with his suit, laid it in a compartment where it was easily accessible.

"Have you got a suit? I know your other one got slashed in that sword fight last month."

"No, but I figured that I'll get one in the village. But I was wondering, do we really have to go to this thing? What's it going to help?"

"For one thing, I think that Da thinks that I won't be man enough to come. I think she gave me the invitations as a challenge, and hopes that I will stay away. I'm not going to let her win like that."

"Oh?" Yu asked, strangely amused by his friend's logic.

"And, we get to have a chat to see if we could establish a trading agreement with Qiao Xuan, and we kill two birds with one stone. We could get outta here quicker, and back to Jiang Dong where I need to be with my people. I've been away far too long."

Yu nodded.

Ce turned and looked at Yu. "And don't think you're getting outta this easily. Get your ass up there and buy a suit because you're going to be the one talking to Xuan."

"Alright, alright." Yu said and exited the cabin and up the companionway to the deck and grabbed a horse before galloping to the village.

Ce walked up the similar path to see how his crew was fairing, thinking and smiling at the message he had left for Da.

* * *

Xiao Qiao sat in the carriage, as it make it's way to the village, defeated. She didn't get to talk to Da, and that made her mad. Her careful planning, all for naught. Now it would take longer for her to get Da to open up, and the suspense was killing Xiao! She couldn't understand why, in heaven's name, Da would want to keep a secret from her! To protect her? But what could keeping things from her do other than hurt her?

She didn't have time to think about that because the carriage stopped on the outskirts of the village, seeing as it couldn't go in due to the number of people, and Yu Rue and Link, along with the driver, all stepped down to help her out. She smiled at them before realizing that most of the activity in the village had stopped, and looked around curiously before realizing the cause: her.

The entrance to the village was filled with her suitors.

"Oh, no." was all Xiao said before they started running towards her, all eager to help her down.

Not waiting for assistance from anyone, she jumped down most unladylike, and took off running in the first direction that came to her mind, aware of the stampede of men that followed her, and the protests from Yu Rue and Link.

____

Zhou Yu whistled as he walked the streets of the square with a suit that the courier surprisingly had that fit him perfectly under his arms in a package. He was admiring paintings and the like when someone whirled by him, causing his hair that was in his ponytail to whip him in his face, he turned to stare at the retreating form before recognition dawned on him who it was.

Just as he recognized her, about thirty or so men came rushing after her, thus making him realize just why she was running. He stared at them, dazed and amazed that she should have so many suitors, then he remembered her face and understood.

He saw her turn back to them and he recognized a look of worry in her face before she turned back again, and started running harder.

Before thinking, he started jogging backwards before running in a sprint down an ally way, thinking to help her.

* * *

Da Qiao ran up to the castle on horseback, and jumped down and handed the reins to a footman before ascending the steps into her home. She stopped at the butler who had opened the door.

"I was told I had a visitor." she told him. "Which room is he in?"

"I fear madam, that he left shortly after arriving. He came wishing to have a word with you, but you weren't here, so he left a message with your mother. She's in the study if you wish to see her. The family one."

"Thank you Liang." she murmured before running to the study that only her family was allowed into. It was often a place where she and Xiao could escape suitors during festivities held here at the castle.

When she knocked on the door, her father's voice called an admittance. Da came in and smiled to her father at his desk, then went up to her mother who was sitting near the large fireplace. The room was filled with books on all the other walls, and a large portrait of her, Xiao, and her mother hung above the fireplace. The fact that they had the curtains drawn over the windows made the fireplace seem the only light, and the place felt cozy.

Da bowed to both, "Hello, Papa, Mama. I heard I had a visitor."

"Well you did." The duchess said as she stopped at her needlework. "But when he heard that you weren't here, he left me this message." she took it out of her pocket and handed it to Da. "He was different than the rest, dear. Rather handsome, too" she added with a hint of amusement.

"Who was it?" Da asked as she unfolded the paper.

"I never saw him before. I didn't get a name either. He just asked to see you. Then you weren't here and he said that he had business he needed to attend to, so he left me that for you."

Da puzzled over this for a moment, but bent down and read the note:

_Thanks for the invite. Save a dance for me._

Da Qiao couldn't breathe. "Um, thanks Mama. I'll be outside."

"Are you alright?" the duchess asked, starting to get up and her comment drew Qiao Xuan's attention away from his papers and onto his daughter.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. I just need some air." she hurriedly said and didn't bother with asking permission to leave.

* * *

"Don't you guys ever give _up_?!" Xiao shouted over her shoulder as she started on a harder sprint, aware again of the stares she was receiving from people.

"Leave it to Da to have a guest when I really need her!"

Xiao dashed down yet another alley way, and ran hard around the corner, trying to dislodge the men from her heels. She turned down another corner, then another, multiple feelings coursing through her at the moment.

She was just looking back to see where her suitors were, when strong arms lifted her up, over a couple of barrels, and into a nook in the alley. Then they hugged her close in the confines of the nook, and a familiar scent came up to Xiao.

She looked up to see brown, oddly familiar eyes staring down at her, then her mouth fell open.

"Z-zhou Yu?" she asked. She couldn't believe it. Her heart pounded, and several emotions took hold, and memories that she had locked away were coming back, full force, driving her heart at another record-breaking speed she didn't even think possible. It was him. She knew it too, every fiber in her being knew it.

The emotions were too strong, and there was only one man on the planet who could make her feel these emotions. Only one man who could say that he kissed her and live to tell about it: the one who was holding her now.

"Shhh…" he said as he put a finger to his mouth and pointing a thumb behind him.

Yu stared at her. This was her, there was no denying it. She was gorgeous, always was. She looked even more beautiful than he dreamed. Even in the ones that she and he were getting married. Her hair was a deep brown that was accented by the pink her outfit. Her eyes were the unmistakable color of green and her face still held that childish outlook. Her outfit was pink with flowers and laces surrounding her wrists and her collar and also it's hem. She had a flowery accessory in her hair that went with her outfit. The finishing touch was her white hose and the heels that she wore over them. She stared at him like he would disappear any second, and that she had pure shock and surprise in them. His eyes, he could tell, were burning into hers, in just the same way. She was absolutely amazing…

Xiao's breath caught in her throat. Oh my, it was him! He had changed definitely, but it was him. Her dreams. Her nightmarish dreams were coming true. Her heart raced as she and he made eye contact with him, and she thought her knees would buckle under her weight, had they not locked in place earlier and he holding her weight. Two years had done him good. He was more of a model than a strategist. She could feel his build. She could also see that she had the same effect of him as he did on her. This brought her comfort in a sense.

Not two seconds later, her many suitors ran by the alcove, ignoring it completely in their quest to find their mistress. As soon as they were gone, he spoke.

"Are you alright?" he asked. His voice was huskier than she remembered, and he held a different accent than the people in her village did or her family for that matter. Yet, her tongue was completely disarmed. She couldn't talk.

So she settled for nodding her head.

"Did any of them hurt you?" He asked.

She dared to speak. "N-no." She hated the break in her voice, but as soon as she said it, she felt her confidence build back up fast. He shouldn't be able to do this to her. She should be having him eating out of her hand like most of her suitors do. And she was going to do everything in her power to make it that way. He was on her turf this time, not the other way around.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, concern growing in his stomach.

Realization dawned on her, and she remembered that he still had his arms around her. She pulled out of his grasp and only got about six inches between them before she hit the other side of the nook.

"Yes, I'm alright." she said and took a moment to catch her breath, simultaneously looking at him. It was him alright, he was just…different. He actually had his hair up in a ponytail, and his build had increased to a point that she actually blushed at the fact that his tan shirt was open to his midriff, and she could see his abs and couldn't help but appreciate the fact that he had taken care of himself. She wondered what it would feel like to run her nails gently over his body and then she wondered why she even wondered that…

Then she blushed harder.

She looked at his face again, then realized that he was staring at her, and she had to look away, knowing that he saw her blush. But what was he doing here?

"Why are you in Wei? How long have you been here? Who's all with you?" She asked in a rush. She hoped that Ce wasn't here. No telling what Da would do.

Xiao saw Yu swallow several times. He came to the conclusion that Da hadn't told her about Ce's rescue.

Just as he was about to speak, her suitors went by again, and he realized that this wasn't the moment to talk. Should the men find them there in this little nook, as close as they were, they would no doubt tell Qiao Xuan, and Zhou Yu needed to stay as best as he could on his good graces.

He started to suggest moving, "My lady, I do think that we need to get out—"

"My lady!" Yu Rue came up to her, then spied Zhou Yu. He then looked at Xiao and raised a questioning eyebrow on whether to protect her, or leave.

"It's alright, Yu Rue, this is Lord Zhou Yu. He was kind enough to help me get away from my suitors."

She then looked at him. "Thank you, my lord." she bowed. "It was nice to see you again, and if you will excuse me," she climbed over the barrels, not waiting for assistance, "I have things to buy and have to be somewhere at an appointed time."

"Wait!" Yu jumped over the barrels. "Can I buy you lunch? I could answer all of your questions then."

Another man came running up dressed like Yu Rue and studied Zhou Yu, but Xiao hardly noticed as she turned around to him and sweetly replied.

"I've already had lunch." then rounded the corner, the men following her in her wake.

Zhou Yu ran after her, but when he rounded the corner, she was nowhere to be seen.

____

Xiao came up the steps with a heavy heart. How was she going to tell Da? She figured Da could handle it well, she took the breakup well enough not to cry about it. Xiao never saw one tear. But the fact that he was back and it was well to assume that Ce was with him, made her insides turn.

Could they be back to court them again?

No, they weren't. He didn't seem like it, and he would've been at the castle by now, seeking permission from her father. She hadn't even known they were on the same peninsula, let alone in the same ten-mile vicinity.

As she entered the hall, her maids came up to her. She looked at Taka. "Where's my sister?"

"She's in the gardens, my lady."

Xiao nodded. "I wish to have a private conversation with her, so go back to your quarters after you take this to my mother." she said and handed Taka the bag of her mother's things. Taka bowed then left as Xiao had ordered.

Xiao mentally prepared herself. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, gave herself a little shake, then started to walk to the gardens. As she entered the place, she didn't see Da, but she rounded a hedge and found her on a swing, studying a piece of folded parchment.

"Da." Xiao called out. Da looked up and saw her, then hastily folded the paper and put it up. Normally, Xiao would be curious at Da's weird action, but she figured weird was Da's new motto.

"Da, I need to talk with you about something." she said.

"And I need to talk to you, too."

"Let me go first." She said. "I, uh, saw someone today. In the village. He, um, oh how do I put this?!" Xiao said as she started to pace.

"Was it…Lord Zhou Yu?" Da asked cautiously, hoping for a negative answer.

Xiao looked at her shocked and Da knew she hit the mark. She put her head in her hands.

"You-you knew he was here, didn't you?" Xiao asked barely above a whisper.

Da nodded in her hands.

"When were you going to tell me?" Xiao asked and stamped her foot.

"I started to, but he beat me to it." Da replied as she let Xiao blow steam.

"Is this why you've been acting so weird lately?"

Da nodded.

"When did you see- oh, that day." Xiao came to the conclusion.

Da nodded again. "I didn't see Zhou Yu, though, I saw Sun Ce. That's why I acted so weird. He caught me by suprise."

'What are they doing here, anyway?" Xiao Qiao asked.

"I don't know." Da said, finally raising her head. "But they'll be at the ball tomorrow night, I might as well let you know that."

"Are you serious?'

Da nodded.

"What do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do."

Da just looked at Xiao with sympathy.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, but Xiao broke it, turned to Da and bestowing on her a bittersweet smile.

"Ya know, I have wondered what I would do if he suddenly reappeared in my life, and in none of those daydreams have I been affected by him. Guess I was wrong." she shrugged, "But I'm glad I know he's here. Tomorrow I will be better prepared. And I won't let him get to me. I'll treat him just like my other suitors."

* * *

Zhou Yu sat at his desk that night with his head in his hands, and two bottles of wine on his table. One empty and one nearly there. He had told Ce what had happened in the village. He had left some odd hours ago, saying little, and knowing and understanding much. Yu needed to think this through, and needed some alone time to figure out his emotions.

Yu drained the last of the other bottle and walked over to the porthole. He looked over the ocean as the waves came about and shook his head. He had been over so many oceans, fought so many battles, and could've had so many women. There were the harlots on the piers that were constantly parading about, women merchants who, when he asked how much was an object, said that he could pay another way, damsels in distress that he had rescued many times in port on far away places, (some he thought had had deliberately put themselves in the fray to be rescued) and not to mention the court ladies back home! He could have any of these women! But yet he saw one face… One face that smiled at him with stars in her eyes. It was the same face that haunted him the last two years. That one face was enough to settle any arousal he could've found with the harlots, or any other woman for that matter. It was only her he cared for. Only her he yearned for.

And only her who could hold his heart for nearly two years. She had left so fast...

Zhou Yu thought of Ce and noticed that Ce never engaged in any of the ladies either, though they wish otherwise. Countless women have come on to him too, and he would politely shoot them down, only occasionally using a stern voice when one got too daring with their hands.

Were they both doomed to a life of wanting but never having? Or would this turn of events spin fate another way?

Yu didn't know. Nor did he want to tempt fate and ask for a turn. He and Ce, along with the crew, had tempted fate enough times that he lost count, especially in the last year at sea.

Yu walked away from the window, knowing he would probably have a mild headache in the morning, and settled in his bunk, trying to tackle a good night of sleep he was sure he wouldn't get…

* * *

Da Qiao walked down the hallway of, listening to the sounds of the sleeping manor. She always thought that the manor had powers at night. Healing powers. Walking through these hallways always gave her a calming feeling, no matter how big her problems seemed to get. She looked out of the window onto the moonlit gardens a story below. She took a turn down a rug-covered staircase. It turned and curved as she descended it. The blazers lighting her way made her have this uncommon feeling that she was one of the many beautiful women in her books, the ones who thought love didn't exist anymore, but went down a staircase to find their "true love". She smiled at her own foolishness and realized that she was probably thinking at this moment the way her sister regularly thinks.

She finished the last few steps and turned to go down another familiar, healing hallway. She saw the doorway of the destination she was after. This doorway wasn't hard to miss, the moonlight showed through it with a magical vibe glowing around it. With her easel in one hand and a wineglass and a full bottle of wine in another, she entered this magical place and smiled as her bare feet hit the lush, green grass of this magical garden. Tonight was a special night. Why? She couldn't answer that, but it was, and she was letting go of her "Top Ten Ways a Lady Should Act" rules, and decided this night was too special, and started to made a mental "Top Ten Ways to Paint" list.

____

Xiao Qiao opened up her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that night and stared at the ceiling above her bed. She signed a frustrated sign and rolled over in a new position, trying to get comfortable.

Only to no avail.

A few hours ago, he was the farthest thing from her mind. A few hours ago, she understood that he was on a different providence entirely! A few hours ago, she was carefree, happy and could darn well sleep! But now, he was all she could think about, and he wasn't on another providence, he was on her homeland, only three-freakin-miles away, on a ship! She didn't know why, oh, but she would find out! She would find out quickly! She didn't know if he had a wife, or took a mistress, or had a betrothal, or went gay—

WHY THE HELL DID SHE CARE?!?! She didn't! Not one bit! He could have many wives for all she cared.

And, for all she cared, she could strangle him for making her loose sleep thinking about him! For all she cared, she could throw him over that blasted ship he was on, and laugh as he tried to get out of the freezing water! Or, for all she cared, she could stand by his bed and bang things with other things so he couldn't get sleep either! Why she outta—

A noise from her stomach made her realize that she was hungry. She had lost her appetite earlier, and hadn't eaten much supper, much to her parents distress.

She unclenched the pillow she was strangling, pretending it was Zhou Yu, and got off the bed and threw her robe on.

"Who knew thoughts of killing people made you hungry!" Xiao whispered harshly. Then thought and remarked, "That would explain Xu Zhu."

She was still a little angry, but when she lit a candle, reason came back. She couldn't kill him, not on her soil at least. And what the hell he was doing in Wei was a mystery to her.

She walked down many corridors in the sleeping manor and came upon the kitchen. She went in there when she saw Cook standing there, wiping off counters. Cook looked up and saw Xiao standing there with her candle, and smiled.

"What's wron', honey child? Cain't sleep?"

Xiao just shook her head.

"Somethin' on yo' mind? Looks like you could use my special recipe." Cook said as she started to turn and get out pots. "Now yoo jes' sit rite down there and let ol' Cook fix yoo somthin' special!"

Xiao obeyed and sat in a seat meant for people to watch the cook.

"An' while I'm at it, yoo tell me whats bothin' yoo. I do get lonely when I work, child. So please keep me a'company."

Xiao sat there for a moment while Cook worked. Finally she signed and started to talk, feeling the need to have someone listen.

"I saw someone from my past today." she signed deeply to try to stop the tears. "Someone I thought was buried in my past, along with the deceit and lies that came with him."

"A man?" Cook asked.

Xiao nodded.

"Then what I'ma making won't do, no-sir-ree. We need Heartbreak Pie." She said as she put things back and got new ones out.

"Heartbreak Pie?" Xiao asked as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Yes'm. Now tell me, what all did this boy do, honey child?" Cook asked.

"Cheated me, and marked me as a relationship wrecker." Xiao said. Her eyes once again got misty.

"I see. And what did he say today?"

"He didn't say anything about us. I was being chased by men, and he helped me."

"I see. And did he recognize ya?"

Xiao nodded.

"And what are your feelings for this here boy?"

Xiao shrugged. "I really don't know. Just a few minutes ago I was thinking of ways to kill him because he was back into my life."

"So he's makin' you loose sleep, is he?" Cook poured Xiao warm milk.

"I guess."

"Do you think you have the same effect on him?"

Xiao shook her head after she drank some. "I doubt it."

"Well why, honey chile?"

"I was just a pawn in one of his many strategies. Nothing more. A ticket out of a life of a living hell." Xiao remarked as she sipped on her cup. More tears went down her face.

A napkin was handed to her and she wiped them away, then wiped her nose.

"He doesn't seem like anything to cry over, child."

"At one point he was. At one point, I would've cried him a river."

The rest of the cooking was done in silence, and before Xiao knew it, a pie was put in front of her, and a spoon handed to her.

"There now, child, Heartbreak Pie." Cook said barely above a whisper.

"What's in it?" Xiao asked.

"Things that will make yoo feel betta."

Xiao raised her brows but dug into the pie. She slowly put it in her mouth, then closed her eyes and signed aloud when the taste hit her. Something melted instantly in her mouth. "Oh, this is so goood!"

Cook cackled and smiled then got serious. "Honey child, I'm going to tell yoo something', and I want yoo to listen."

Xiao looked up from her pie, giving Cook her rapt attention.

"Any woman can go out here, and sell her body for money, or tempt sailors into their beds or pretend that they's got caught wit a babe in their bellies, and make a man pay money for it, but it takes a real lady to go out here and stand on her own two feet. An' that's what'cha need ta do. That boy of yours is coming to the ball, I presume, so when yoo see him, you igno' him! Yoo are smart gurl, and you don't need him, and you remember that!"

Xiao smiled and nodded. "I will, Cook, and thanks for the pie."

Cook smiled, "Anytime, honey child, anytime."

* * *

The waves hit the ship and made it rock slowly up and down in the waters. A salty breeze blew and made Sun Ce's hair blow ever which way in it's ponytail. He was on the back of his boat, sitting on the railing, his usual spot at night when he couldn't sleep. And tonight, he wasn't going to sleep period, that was for sure.

Last night was still fresh in his mind.

He couldn't believe it when he had come out of the quarterdeck and saw that his watchman was yelling about. At first, he thought his eyes were deceiving him. She had changed so much over the two year period that he didn't think it was her. But as soon as he got closer, he knew. She was drowning. After he had pulled her out, he had brought her down to his cabin and tried to warm her up. He had to get her clothes off of her first. Being at sea taught you things, and he knew everything about drowning and being frostbitten.

Da had been both.

The day she left was burned into his memory. The things she said. The things he said. There had been numerous times where he beat himself up for not stopping her, whether her aunt's funeral was going on or not. The death of her aunt seemed like the death of himself too. Countless times he wanted to steer his boat her direction, countless times he felt like beating up things just so he could forget her, countless times…well, there had been a lot of them. When she left…

A good piece of him left as well.

Seeing her now, was like opening up doors that he had sealed shut in his mind with boards and nails, driven with hurt, pain, and anger. Yet, seeing her, made him feel halfway whole again. The only way he stayed connected with her was through his dreams, and the sky. He would always look up at the sky, night and day, and say that they were both under it, and it didn't make her seem that far away.

He wondered what her feelings were through this. Did knowing that he was in her homeland make her sad? Excited? Mad? Happy?

He didn't know, nor did he probably want to. She was a beautiful woman, probably on the verge of getting married and providing heirs for her father's estate.

But the thought of another man on her made his blood boil.

He shook his head. "Damn it, Ce! Get a grip!" The night's chill seemed to do nothing for him. He was thoroughly distraught.

She had moved on, so he needed to, too. He got off the railing, nodded his greetings to his crew, some not gone to bed yet, and walked down to his quarters and shut the door. He had a ball to go to tomorrow, so he could at least try to sleep.

* * *

Her brush slid flawlessly over her canvas. She was in a drunken, artistic state, where she didn't know what she was drawing. Her hand, skillful and captivating in how it moved over her work, was moving automatically, stopping every few seconds to refill a color, or pick another. The moon poured out over the clouds, making glisten the still wet canvas. She didn't stop though, if anything, her movements got faster, more concentrated with the new light. She was in her own little bubble. A world full of fascinating creatures and tons of pretty colors that brought black and white to life. The scent of flowers swarmed her, and her eyes bulged out and her hand left the easel to rinse off her brush and pick out a new color that matched the scent to add to her canvas. Her eyes were one of a passionate fanatic as the high of the moment kept her in her feverish endeavor, and her brush slid flawlessly over the canvas, putting to life the ideas and creations she had spinning in her head.

Soon though, her movements stopped, and she looked at the creation she had drawn…

* * *

Cao Cao poured over his scrolls and reports. His attempt to catch the eldest Qiao had failed. He would have to step up his game, and big time. His inside spies had said that they had spotted the prince of Wu on a ship in the area, and his strategist was with him.

He couldn't have that.

The Qiaos were his. And only his. He had wanted to marry them when they were children, and he thought he and Qiao Xuan had an agreement, but their father denies it. Cao Cao knew though.

Cao Cao put the scrolls down. He knew what he was going to do. But he needed to do it when there was a lot of people…

The ball tomorrow night would do. He wasn't invited, but he had people who were…

* * *

The wine glass left her lips again as she stared at the creation that she had drawn up unknowingly. It was above all the best creation that she had ever done. But then again, it could be because of the man that was in it. Or the passion that had went into making it.

It was a picture of Sun Ce, ascending the ropes of his ship. Just the way she remembered him doing this morning.

Just as she took another sip of the wine, a tear started to fall, and as that one fell, several more followed it. Fair lips pulled back from her white face and her eyes closed shut and she sobbed. Soon, she was fiercely sobbing, her shoulders moving with it. This was the first time she had cried over this. She had always been so numb to this. To everything that anyone said when she came home. Every time anyone asked her about Wu, she would answer politely answer, but change the subject.

She had become a master at changing subjects.

But the cliff of sanity she had been dangling on now fell beneath her. All of the emotions she had been so headstrong about not feeling, or paying attention to, were booming out of her, pouring down her face like a brook. Soon, she found herself on her hands and knees, her hands holding on to the grass beneath her. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't get a grip on reality. Her comfortable numbness now abandoned her.

She was soon laying in the grass, all her energy spent on crying. She stared up at the stars and breathed in slowly and deeply. It was the first time she cried for him, and the first time she cried so violently. She started to sing softly to herself, and soon, she was able to think clearly again.

She slowly sat up, and stayed there as her whole world started spinning. As soon as that stopped, Da grabbed her wine glass and took a gulp out of it, before picking up her things and going back to her room.

Tonight was going to be hell. But she couldn't help wonder what tomorrow was going to be like…

* * *

**Hey guys, I suppose you're wondering why in the world it took so freakin long? I'm a person who likes perfection, and my emotions usually run me. I would write like twenty-five pages in Microsoft, have a bad feeling, hate it, and then delete it all and start all over again. That's just me. Soon, I stopped deleting all of it and kept the parts I liked. So what you just read is my favorite parts of my twenty-five pages of junk put into a thirty-two page chapter. AKA: the longest I've ever written for a chapter...period. You guys should feel privilaged. lol!**

**The thing is, cliff-hangers are just as hard on us authors as they are with you readers, if not harder. For you guys, your sitting on the edge of your seats, biting your nails wondering what's going to happen next. With the author, they are planning. I had so many ways I could've gone with mine. As an author, I wanted to give you something you wouldn't have expected, something that would shock you when you read it. But as a reader to my own story lookin at it from you guy's perspective, I know you guys wanted to see Ce rescue her and have her wake up on the ship with Ce. I know you guys wanted a Yu and Xiao part because there was none in my last, which I apologize for. So I did all of this, and gave it a ShadowingPassion twist! I LIVE for unordinary! Without the little unexpected things that happen in life, it wouldn't be fun!**

**I have to say that you guys kept me going. There were times I was beating my head on my computer, hoping that some idea would just pop out and save me from my headache. So when I got this way, I would read all of the reviews you guys posted. It gave me motivation and helped me plan. Thank you guys so much! You rock!**

**The painting scene with Da is one I have had in my head for the longest. It's been there since I started this thing, only it was added and perfected to what it is today. The Xiao scene was my favorite! I LOVED to show that she has an attitude, and she's like my humor character for this chapter. She lightens the mood. lol! The Ce and Yu one came to me...almost automatically. I tried to get their pain and longing in it, and I'm pretty sure I got it down the way I want it. The one with Cao Cao came on one of those last-minute thingies. I thought it would be fun to put that in there. And I'm totally psyched for the ball scene to happen!**

**So why did it take so long? Because I wanted to get this perfect for you guys. Disappointing you guys would kill me. I wanted to give you guys the best chapter I have done so far in this story. If I did, leave a review. If I didn't and I disappointed you, keep that to yourself. I hate flames. And I'm tired. I'm going to bed. .Laugh.**

**_ShadowingPassion9532 _**


	6. Can I Have That Back?

"Da?"

Da Qiao lifted her head off her pillow with a puzzled look on her face. She looked at the window and confirmed it was still nighttime. It wasn't long since she had come up from the gardens, maybe a little over an hour, and she couldn't guess at what the person at the door wanted at this time of the night.

_Knock. Knock._

"Da?"

That was Xiao Qiao.

"Coming!" Da pulled her robe around her body and tied it as the got to her door. She looked at the painting of Sun Ce in the corner of her room and wondered if Xiao would see it, but quickly dismissed it. She opened it to see Xiao standing in the hallway.

Well, crouching really.

"What is it?" Da asked, highly curious.

Xiao darted into Da's room and shut the door behind her.

"What's going on?" Da questioned as Xiao stood up.

"Have you been crying?" Xiao asked as she looked at her sister.

"No, but what's the matter, Xiao Qiao? Why did you crouch so?" Da asked again.

"Oh, that's just to hide from my maids." Xiao said with a wave of dismissal. "But, Da, isn't the ball invite only?"

Da raised her eyebrows. "Yes, why?"

"Do Sun Ce and Zhou Yu have invites?" she asked, her eyes lighting up with every word.

"Yes, they do." Da answered.

Xiao's face fell, "Oh…darn."

"Why do you ask this, little sister? Hmm?" Da said as she crossed her arms.

Xiao didn't answer.

Da looked at her for a moment and saw Xiao's brain forming an idea. An idea that was probably outrageous and highly complicated that would only put one or both of them in extreme trouble or danger.

"Now, Xiao, whatever it is you are thinking-"

"We have to get on that ship!" Xiao suddenly burst out.

Da blinked. "…What?" she hadn't been expecting this.

"We go to wherever they are, sneak in, steal the invites and BAM! They won't be at the ball and we don't have to worry about them." Xiao smiled and crossed her arms.

"No." Da said immediately, not even thinking twice about it.

"Why? It's a brilliant plan!" Xiao protested.

"That may be, but my answer will still be no."

"But, Da! While we are on there we could figure out why they are here!"

Da started to walk away. "I care not why they are here."

Xiao followed her, still protesting, "We could find out if they are married!"

"They could have a hundred wives and I still wouldn't care to go on that ship."

"We could see if they have any skeletons in their closet!"

Da stopped as she processed what Xiao had just said. She could get onto the ship and find her dress…

She accepted the fact that she had had Ce's handkerchief when she woke up the other day, but she still didn't believe she had been on that ship, or if she dreamed it all. If she got on the ship and found her dress… she would have the proof she needed.

But then again, if they did get caught, they would have to deal with Sun Ce and that meant she had to speak to him. Then again, she would have to speak to him at the ball.

Unless…

Unless they took the invites.

Without hesitation, she moved to her wardrobe and pulled out two cloaks and passed one to Xiao.

"Don't load up on the clothing. Just wear the basics." she instructed.

Xiao jumped up. "Yes! Can I borrow some clothes so I don't have to sneak past my maids again?"

* * *

Xiao was following Da as they climbed out her window and down the vines. She was wearing all black with a black cloak around her shoulders and the hood was pulled over her head. This was exciting to her, to play spy even for an hour, and the fact that Ce and Yu were the people they were "assassinating" raised the exciting value exponentially.

"How do you know that this is the best way to sneak out?" Xiao never thought her sister was one for sneaking out. In fact, if someone told her that her sister even thought about sneaking out she would've laughed at them.

"Just makes perfect sense really. Do we need horses?" Da said as they snuck around to the stables.

"I'd say so. It is a long way to the pier." Xiao said and followed Da as they got their horses. "Let's not bother with saddles though."

The night wind blew a chill through Xiao Qiao's hood as she emerged from the stables with her horse. She looked up at the stars and found the moon, just starting to hide her face. Adrenaline flowed through her veins and she found that the stimulating excitement of it all was wondrous. She had no idea what the rest of the night had in store but she did know something big was going to happen.

"Let's go." Da whispered and they both turned their horses towards the gate.

"How are we going to get past the gate, Da?" Xiao inquired.

"I have no idea. I figured you and your quick wit might have some ideas."

"Well, I have one… We'll need a rock."

Da smiled at her.

"Keep close to the wall and be prepared to mount quickly." Xiao said as they approached the gates, both walking with their horse's reins in hand.

"After you throw the rock, only open one of the gates, Xiao. We only need one to get out and it will save more time. And leave it unlocked so we can get back in." Da instructed.

"Gotcha'." Xiao replied as she picked up a medium sized rock. "Okay, here it goes! One, two, three!"

Xiao threw the rock with all her might as she stood as close as she could get towards the gate.

Instead of going airborne and hitting the destination of the other side of the gate as she had wanted, it went on the other side of the wall and into the trees.

"Uh oh…" Xiao said.

But the guards at the gate immediately jumped up and ran out of the gate and to the other side of the wall to see about the loud thud.

"That works too, I guess." Da said and jumped on her horse. "Come, silly, before they get back to the gate!"

Xiao hurriedly mounted her horse and followed Da silently out of the gate.

They snuck out and looked in the direction of the guards.

"Do you see anything?" one asked.

"Just this huge rock…hey, isn't this supposed to be over by the stables?"

Xiao held back a giggle as she and Da moved into the opposite forest. As soon as the trees were covering them, they raced their horses at full speed towards the village.

Da secretly blessed the horse for its knowledge of how to get to the village in the dark. Though the moon was out, it was still hard to see with the constant tree cover.

"Do you know what ship it is?" Xiao asked as soon as they got to the outskirts of the village.

"Yes, I do." Da replied as they made their way through the streets.

"How?" Xiao inquired. She had a feeling there was something Da wasn't telling her. This wasn't the first time either.

"I saw it after trying on dresses." Technically, that wasn't a lie.

"Oh. Have you talked to Ce any?"

"No, why would I?" Da looked at Xiao puzzled.

"I don't know. I just thought since I talked to Zhou Yu, maybe you talked to Ce too."

Da faced her, "When did you talk with Zhou Yu?"

Shock came over Xiao's face when she realized she hadn't told Da everything about her and Yu's encounter.

"Well, I was running from suitors and he helped me and we talked for about a minute. But I think I was sort of rude and left rather… meanly. I can't believe I didn't tell you. I guess I was so shocked about you knowing about them I just forgot to." Xiao said as she shook her head.

Da fell silent. She had felt guilty about not telling Xiao about Sun Ce. Partially because she was still trying to accept it all herself and partially because she didn't exactly know how to tell Xiao. But then again, she could be making a big deal about nothing at all. Maybe Sun Ce had had a woman maid take care of her in a show of gallantry. But yet again, she didn't know how much he had changed in the last few years. The way he stared at her in the village could have been a stare to rip her clothes off and-

"Da?" Xiao called to her, breaking Da out of her thoughts.

Da blinked and turned towards Xiao. "What? Did you say something?"

Xiao studied her. "I asked how we were going to get on the ship unnoticed."

"Oh. I haven't really given it much thought. You _are_ the one who came up with this, remember?" Da pointed.

"Yeah…do you think they have guards?"

Da thought about that night. She _had_ heard shouts…

"Yes, I'm sure they do. If not to protect Sun Ce, then to protect the cargo they hold."

Xiao pouted. "Why does there always haveta be guards?" her eyebrows came together in the cute little way they always did when she thought her hardest. "Okay, this makes things harder. Maybe there's a back way."

"On a boat? Not likely. What if we do something to distract them?" Da suggested.

"Like what? It's not like we can fake an injury to get past the guards." Xiao said with a snort. She crossed her arms and looked the other way with a little pout.

Da thought for a minute. Then smiled. "Give me your wrap."

* * *

Sun Ce looked at the invite as it twirled between his fingers. The fireplace on the opposite side of the room sent an ominous glow about the captain's quarters. The boats movements of tide didn't disturb him as he sat on the edge of his bed, one foot propped up on a stool, deep in thought. He hadn't bothered to change out of his clothing. He already knew he wasn't going to sleep tonight.

He had to admit it and face the facts: he did not want to go to the ball tomorrow. But then again, he did. He _had_ to know how Da was doing out here compared to his homeland. He had to know about what she did while she was around people during social parties, and how she would react now that he was there.

Most importantly, he just wanted to see her.

He looked at his locker that still contained her clothing from the other night. For some reason, he just couldn't throw it away even though no one could wear the dress. Maybe some part of him wanted some part of her.

It was ridiculous really. To hang on to something, someone, like he was doing. Two years… But after last night, old scars felt like new cuts. It was amazing how someone could hold onto something for so long.

He heard a commotion from the deck and instinctively rose up to listen to the running footsteps of his men.

Wait…was that the warning call?

Ce dropped the invite on his bed as he made way to the door just in time to see one of his crew members about to knock.

"Captn' we found another body. It looks like a woman."

Ce dashed out the door. "Get Zhou Yu."

* * *

Zhou Yu was at his desk pouring over scroll after scroll to try to sleep. Usually, reading the teachings of the Tao were interesting, but could get tiring after awhile. He had started on this two hours ago and had made no progress in getting more tired.

Just when he would start to get even a little tired, he would think about tomorrow and a jolt of adrenaline would surge through his body, sending him wide awake again. It was a never ending battle that he seemed to be fighting.

Tomorrow seemed so far away yet so close. He didn't want it so close but he didn't know if he could endure sleepless nights as this one over and over again. He dealt with them when she left, he didn't need to deal with them when he saw her again.

He looked over at the invite on the table by his bed and scowled then looked once again at the scrolls scattered over his desk. He needed to read more. To drown the thoughts of her out by the words of wisdom from the Tao.

Like that had worked so far.

He set his elbows on his desk and put his head in his hands.

_By the gods why couldn't he get this girls out of his skin?_

The warning call.

His head rose out of his hands as his body moved out of the chair and towards the door just as there was a knock on it.

"Me lord, the captn' wants ta see ye on tha deck." the cabin boy said. "'Dey fount an'er body."

Zhou Yu ran out of his quarters.

* * *

Xiao Qiao's hands hurt immensely. Dangling from a rope while crossing a body of water was so not one of her top ten most favorite things to do. Or anywhere near it. Ever.

The rope jiggled as she felt Da scaling it behind her. They were climbing the rope from the pier to the Wu ship.

Xiao's extra wrap was put around a potato sack and thrown where the watchmen would see it. It didn't take the men long to notice it and send out warning shouts. In the meantime, Xiao and Da went and found a rope that connected to the boat and started to climb it heading towards the massive war ship.

Xiao was beginning to hate whoever the idiot was who invented the rope. She promised herself that she wasn't climbing another rope again. Ever. The freezing water below didn't help her uneasiness either. Except, at this time of night with the boat blocking the moon, it looked more like a menacing black hole.

She reached the ladder at the side of the boat and put her feet on it then her hands. The cold of the iron bars was a godsend after the burn of the rope.

She turned to check on Da and saw she was about to get on the ladder also. Xiao scaled up till she was just below the railing.

"Do you see anyone up there?" Da asked below her.

"No. They are all looking at our potato sack." Xiao whispered with a giggle.

"Get on the boat then." Da didn't like being above the water she nearly drown in not too long ago.

Xiao raised up, looked around, then jumped over the railing and crouched till Da joined her. "Now what?"

"We find their rooms. Come, they must be down the stairs."

They both dashed to the closest wooden wall and slowly made their way to the opening to the stairs.

"That's it! Over there." Xiao pointed and Da made her way over there with Xiao following.

Da pulled Xiao against the wall and eased around the corner to look in the doorway. She saw light from blazers and the bottoms of some doors. She pulled back around the corner where Xiao was hiding.

"Well?" Xiao asked impatiently.

"There are tons of doors down there. I'm sure that's the living area." Da confirmed.

"Okay, let's go." Xiao urged but as soon as they rounded the corner, they saw three figures about to emerge from the hallway.

Da's mouth opened to let out a gasp but Xiao smothered it with her hand as they both hastened back towards the side of the wall.

Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, and one of the crew members emerged. The crew member was talking about the "body".

As soon as they were a few spaces away, Xiao released a breath. "Whew, that was close."

Da grabbed her hand. "Let's go before they come back!"

They went through the doorway and down the stairs. Then suddenly stopped.

"Uh," Xiao started as they looked around. "Which rooms do we look in?" There was door among door after door without signals on them about what was kept inside.

"We will start with finding the captain's. It's usually the biggest and it's probably the easiest to find." Da answered.

"What if we split up? We can find them more easier that way." Xiao suggested.

"Sorry, Xiao but I really don't like the idea of you going around by yourself, especially on a ship with sailors."

"I'll be fine! I promise. We will get out of here faster and time is against us as is." Xiao pointed out.

Da sighed. "Okay but as soon as you find it get out and head for the meeting place. Don't worry about me."

Xiao nodded. "Gotcha! I'll be really quick!" She bounced off heading for another direction.

Da didn't feel good about letting her go alone, but time was against them as she said. Besides, the sooner she finds the invites, the sooner she and Xiao get to go home and snuggle in their beds, all nice and safe.

Da rushed down a hallway and realized she wasn't going the right direction. She turned and went down another hallway and stopped when she saw that at the end of the it, a door was left ajar.

She looked back then slowly made her way down. She peaked inside the room and saw a fireplace burning but the rest of the room she couldn't see. She listened for sound but only heard the popping of the fire.

She pushed the door opened and immediately realized that this was the captains room. She looked around and saw that there was another room from the one she was currently in, but she didn't have time to investigate because she saw what she was looking for on the enormous bed across the room. She made her way over there and picked it up, looking at the impression on the bed of how someone was recently sitting on the side.

Was that…footsteps?

Da whirled as she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. She prayed that they would turn into another door but they kept coming. She looked frantically around the room trying so spot a hiding place or anything she could hide behind. Then she saw one.

A locker at the other side of the room.

She opened it and climbed over some clothes before shutting the door. She turned around and peaked through the little slits in the wood.

"…just a prank, me lord. Sorry to bother ye." a crew man said.

Sun Ce walked in and Da felt her heart leap in her chest. If her skin wasn't blocking it, she was sure that it might have jumped out of her and went straight to him. Even her skin felt traitorous as every nerve in her being seemed to want to break off and go to him.

Darn that man for making her feel that way!

"That's ok. I'm glad no one was hurt." Ce said.

"Well, goodnight, me lord. Hopefully we won't have to bother ye again." The crew member said as he shut the door behind him.

Ce checked on the fire then walked over to the bed. A puzzled look came over his face.

He then looked at his desk. Then around the room.

He bent to the floor and looked under the bed.

Da knew he was looking for the invite she had in her hand, but she didn't seem to notice his movements as she noticed a familiar smell coming up from her foot area. She looked down and it took all her being not to let out a gasp.

Her dress!

She stared at it for a moment before coming back to her senses. She was here. There, at her feet, was her proof. She couldn't breathe.

She knew she might find it but to look at it… to stare at it and feel it… She was getting dizzy. The room seemed so spin.

"Me lord!" Da looked up to see the crew member again. "There's an intruder on board!"

Ce looked around. It made sense! His invite was stolen! He ran out of the room following the member.

Da's shock at her dress was quickly replaced for concern for Xiao. As soon as Ce left, she darted out of the locker, taking one last look at the dress. She promptly turned around and shot off down the hall.

She had to find Xiao!

* * *

Xiao opened the twenty-second door and stole a look inside. "Nope."

Then the twenty-third. "Nope."

She continued looking down the other doors with an exasperated sigh. Being a "spy" was a lot harder than it seemed to be. Why didn't people just put signs on the doors saying whose room it was? It would make her job a lot easier!

She was just opening her thirty-second door when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. She flew the door opened and rushed into the room. She cracked the door behind her and listened.

"Me apologies, me lord. We had thought that it was another woman like the last time." she heard someone say.

A woman like the last time?

"It was probably someone from another boat wanting to toy with us."

Xiao peaked through the crack in the door and saw Ce's retreating form along with someone she didn't know. A crew member. They went down a different hallway and Xiao didn't hear their voices after a few more seconds. But that didn't matter because, as she looked around the room, the fireplace dimly lighting the scenery before her, she knew exactly where she was.

Zhou Yu's quarters.

She knew it by the amount of scrolls and paperwork on his desk that was obviously recently handled. The room smelled like the way she remembered he did, and she looked around and saw little traces of him everywhere. She slowly made her way over to the desk and saw everything he had set his mind to reading.

After that, she made her way to the bed and let her fingers drift down and feel the soft fabric he had been sleeping in. She noticed how, although it was well into the night, he didn't seem to have laid down in it: the sheets were still pulled tightly on the bed.

She was pondering over this when she saw the invite beside the bed on the table. She smiled and raced forward towards it and swept it up with a victorious cry.

She stole one last look around the room before making her way over to the door. She heard footsteps down the hallway and stole another peak out of the crack in the door and saw the crew member returning to deck without Ce this time.

As soon as she could no longer hear the sound of his heavy boots hitting the wooden floor, she opened the door and went out into the hallway. She nearly choked when she saw someone rounding the corner to where she was. She panicked for a moment before she saw a foot and, instinctively, she knew it was Zhou Yu.

She turned and darted around the corner closest to her. But not fast enough.

Zhou Yu turned and saw a cloaked figure dash out from his doorway and around the corner.

"Intruder!" he yelled as he turned to the crew mate he had just passed. "Alert the captain!" he ordered.

Before the mate could reply, Zhou Yu was already dashing towards the direction he had seen the figure leave.

* * *

A horn blew overhead which seemed only to give wings to Da Qiao's feet as she raced down one hallway then another in what seemed like a never ending maze.

She looked around before she realized she had been down this hallway before. Twice actually.

She stopped running when she saw shadows coming from the hallway in front of her. She turned and jumped behind the boxes beside where she was at and covered her mouth to muffle her breathing as they ran by talking about an intruder.

This was a comfort to her. Obviously they had just spotted Xiao. Not caught her.

The thought crossed her mind that during all the mayhem Xiao might have slipped off the ship and was waiting for her back at the place they stashed their horses.

If that was the case, she had to get off this ship before Xiao came back for her.

Da listened for any sound of movement then looked for it. As soon as she realized the time was right to move, she jumped back over the crates and turned down a hallway she thought would lead to the exit. Then she stopped. All time froze.

Sun Ce was standing at the end of the hallway.

Da froze for a moment but realized he wasn't looking at her…but then he started to turn.

Da whirled around and took off in the direction she came from at full sprint.

"Hey! Stop!" Ce yelled and Da did the exact opposite, hearing his running catching up to her as she turned a corner.

* * *

Xiao Qiao tiptoed down the halls, trying to figure out where footfall was coming from. She had made many turns and was able to shake Zhou Yu off after he had tried to pursue her. But those turns also mean one thing.

She was totally and utterly lost.

She was sure she had come down this hallway before but she wasn't sure. Maybe if she found Zhou Yu's room again she could-

A crew member was coming down the hallway. She turned and went to jump behind some boxes but failed because they were shoved up against the wall and these were too heavy to move without directing attention towards herself. She scooted to the last box that was up against the wall tucked in a corner.

She slowly inhaled and exhaled her breathing so it wouldn't resound in the hallway. She heard the boots get closer, but they stopped when they were about to round the corner where she was at.

They stayed there for several minutes. Xiao wondered if he had left but she just didn't hear it. She slowly leaned forward to see around the hallway…

"Arrr!" a crew member screamed as he jumped in front of her.

"Ahhh!" Xiao screamed.

"Ahhh!" he screamed, but the roughness that was in his voice suddenly was replaced by a high pitch.

Xiao screamed again, and he screamed in that soprano again and jumped back… and fainted.

Xiao looked over the box at him. He really just… fainted? She couldn't believe it. Even as she stared at him, she expected him to rise up and snatch her. But he didn't.

Xiao jumped off the box and stood over him and waved her hand in his face. Nope, he was out.

She thought about stealing his clothes and using them as a disguise but she didn't get time because she heard boots running and she turned to see Zhou Yu stop at the end of the hallway.

She jumped over the man's unconscious body and took off down hallways turning over and over again.

* * *

Sun Ce rushed down the hallway trying to figure out exactly where the woman in front of him was going. It was obvious to him that she was lost.

She turned another corner, then another and Ce knew she was going around in circles yet again.

He stopped and dashed down another hallway to cut her off.

Da Qiao was seriously getting fed up with being chased. Honestly, didn't men have something better to do?

This was when she realized the footfalls behind her stopped. But she didn't.

She took off on a harder sprint and was determined to get out of this ship when an arm grabbed her around her waist and shoved her against the wall.

Sun Ce pinned both of her arms above her with one hand and had his other arm beside her head.

She had her face turned away from him and the cloak masked it.

Ce only saw her chin but that was all he needed to see to realize just who he had in his arms, a jolt of excitement flowed through his veins. He dropped her arms, pulled her close to him, his arm wrapped around her waist, and pulled the cloak off her head.

Her face was turned away, but he cupped her chin and turned her toward him. And he confirmed his suspicions.

Her face turned toward him and she was looking down at first, but then she blinked and met his eyes levelly.

He couldn't help but have a flashback of their encounter in the village. If she knew of all the emotions that were running through him, would she be shocked?

She was immediately captivated by those eyes yet again. He was looking at her, devouring her as if she might disappear again. She was sure she was looking at him the same way because the feel of his arm around her made her dizzy. His build had grown and so had he. Time seemed to stop and everything froze.

Just then, about five crew members came running down the hallway and Da turned, getting out of his hypnotized trance and saw a chance to escape.

She mustered all her strength into pushing him into them and pushed his chest as hard as she could.

He stumbled back and she saw her chance to escape.

And she took it.

* * *

Xiao dashed down one hallway, then another, and another. For some reason, with all her turning, she couldn't shake Zhou Yu off of her heels again. She stole a peek back behind her and realized, with a shock of fear going through her, that he was close. Very close.

She turned down another hallway and dashed into an open doorway and threw the door shut behind her and locked it.

Zhou Yu noticed the door and stopped for a catch of breath. He slowly processed the door and took off in another direction to cut her off.

Xiao, though, had other things to worry about. She turned around with a sigh of relief before realizing that there was thirty crew members sitting at tables, food in their mouths, staring at her.

She realized she had just ran into the kitchen right when people were getting off their shifts and getting a late snack.

The door that lead out was on the opposite side of the room, and she couldn't go out the other way because Zhou Yu was there.

"Uh oh…" she said.

All at once, they jumped and ran towards her.

She dodged many of the hands that reached for her but realized that there was no way she could dodge all of them all the way to the door. So she did what any self-respecting girl in her situation would do…

She jumped on the table.

She table hopped over or around everyone. She barely dodged the reach of several hands that tried to grab her feet. She nearly stepped on countless glasses and slipped on several plates but she considered it a victory when she reached the other side of the room.

As she reached the last table, she slid too close to the edge, making the table topple over, sending her airborne out of the door but also effectively blocking the doorway from the other crew members.

Unfortunately, it also sent her into the arms of Zhou Yu.

He caught her as she fell, but he also fell with her, not expecting the force behind her fall.

Zhou Yu let go of her and twirled, not wanting to fall on the intruder, just now realizing it was a woman. As soon as he recovered, he went to grab her but she was already off the floor and jumping over him, heading for the exit.

He grabbed at her but only caught the cloth of her cape which she unpinned and let him have. He threw down her cloak and ran after her yet again, telling the other crew men to run around and block her off. He realized, at that moment, she was close to escaping as she found the hallway that lead up the stairs and onto the deck.

He had to do something or he would lose the intruder, and whatever she stole from his room, forever.

He lunged for her, trying to get an arm around her waist, but as he lunged, so did the other crew member he told to cut her off.

All hell broke loose. They all collided, a string of curses coming out of everyone's mouth, and fell in a pile to the floor.

Xiao Qiao turned and looked at the entanglement of bodies on the floor and couldn't help but stare. Normally, this kind of thing would be comical but this was just weird.

Zhou Yu looked at the intruder as everyone scrambled off of him, and realized that there was something about her that looked familiar and he couldn't place what it was exactly…

No, it couldn't be. There's no way…

"Xiao…" the name left his lips.

As if suddenly waking up from a deep thought, Xiao shook her head and ran towards the steps. She heard the sound of boots running on wood and dashed up the stairs as fast as she could.

She burst through the entryway to the lower deck and ran towards the dock. She was shocked that no one on deck had stopped her, but she realized they were watching something at the front of the boat in the water.

She didn't have time to think about this, though. She ran over the dock and onto the street then turned and ran back to where their horses were stashed, confident that Da was already there.

She heard running from behind her again, and she turned to sneak a peek and saw Zhou Yu gaining on her.

She turned back around and started running harder, ever conscious of the sound of footfall behind her.

* * *

Da Qiao had a feeling of déjà vu as she knocked over a barrel of potatoes to block Ce's advancement. But, like before, they did no good.

_Why does that stuff always work in books?_

Sun Ce couldn't understand why she had snuck upon his ship. He was starting to question whether he knew this Da at all. He had to admit, he certainly didn't like her behavior the last few days.

He panicked when he realized she was running up toward the stairs that lead to the deck.

She was going to get away.

But, as she hit the first step, she turned and looked at him and with the moon shining on her face.

And his heart sped. He skidded to a stop, catching a breath as he stared at her

But just as the moment happened, when their eyes met and full understanding came in, it ended and she dashed up the steps.

Da took off up the steps, a fire in her lungs from all of her running. She reached the top of the stairs and ran onto the deck, Ce's lunging leaps of three stairs at a time giving him a gain in the distance between them.

Da took off straight in the direction of the only escape route she could think of. She dashed across the deck and up the stairs to the front. She unpinned her cloak and let the wind blow it away from her before putting her foot on the railing and jumping off the front and into the water.

Ce took off running after her and dove in the water right behind her. It sent a shiver through his body as the icy chill covered his body.

Then he was off.

He let her get away twice. There was no way she was getting away again.

He looked at where she was going and saw a dock that she was climbing up, water dripping off her clothes.

He grabbed hold of the side of the dock and hoisted himself up, her just a few feet away.

Da heard him come out of the water and she knew the place where the horses were wasn't too far away. However, she felt the weakness she did the other night and noticed it was getting increasingly harder to put one foot in front of the other.

"Da Qiao! Stop this now!"

Ce's voice cut through the foggy haze that was threatening to consume her whole. She found her strength again and started running harder.

She heard someone else running and she saw Xiao heading towards her, Zhou Yu close behind her.

Xiao came and joined her and they ran beside each other, trying to get back to their horses.

It hit Da that they couldn't go to their horses because Ce and Yu would just catch them as they tried to mount. She thought about where to go and grabbed Xiao and dashed down an ally then nearly tripped over a barrel that was knocked over.

The barrel she knocked over herself that night not so long ago.

Xiao noticed there was something amiss about Da. She seemed to be getting slower and slower but kept running. Xiao had no idea where Da was leading her but she followed anyways.

But just as they were about to get into the opening of the entryway, two figures Xiao didn't recognize appeared at the path.

Xiao stopped and looked at Da and gasped. Da had a look of horror on her face.

She grabbed Xiao and turned her back in the direction they had come.

"Run!" She ordered.

Xiao started to protest because Da was running towards the people they were trying to run away from. "But ,Da, they-"

_"RUN!"_ Da yelled, and pushed Xiao forward.

But Da was tackled to the ground by one of the men.

Da felt her world crash, literally. She tried to turn but someone lifted her off the ground and slammed her into the wall closest to them. She was vaguely aware of Xiao screaming but she didn't get a chance to look because the man raised his hand and was about to slap her. Da cringed and tried to brace herself for the incoming assault…

When someone caught the man's hand.

She looked up in time to see Sun Ce ball up a fist and punch the man who was pinning her to the wall. One punch, he was off of her. Another punch, and he was knocked out on the ground and wasn't moving.

Da looked to Xiao in time to see her being lifted up into Zhou Yu's arms, Xiao's body was limp in his arms.

Da looked up and saw Ce above her. His eyes spoke of concern and fear. But it was only those eyes she remembers as an extreme pain shot through her head and she felt herself falling.

She never felt herself hit the ground.

* * *

The sound of boot thuds woke both the men up and they barely raised their heads to see the ominous figure that stood over both of them.

"You have failed me again." came a low but menacing voice.

"My lord!" one of them protested. "We didn't have time to get them away from those sailors who came with them!"

The figure turned and the moon poured over his face, showing just how mad he really was. "Enough! We will deal with them tomorrow, but tonight, I shall deal with you."

He turned and started to walk away. "Come!"

Both of the men scrambled up, ignoring the pain in their heads, and followed his orders of coming, knowing they did not want to object a direct order.

"Tomorrow shall be different. I will join you myself in this pathetic game you seem to have trouble with." He said, his elegant brow lifting ever so slightly. "Tomorrow, we will be bringing our lord his prize. I shall make sure of it."

* * *

**When I uploaded this, FF had made everything bold and underlined. I swear, if that happens after I took twenty flippin minutes correcting it, I will pull my hair out.**

**Aside from my lil outburst, I just can't keep away from the spy thingies can I? Hahaha! And, yes, I know the ball scene was supposed to go here, and believe me, I had it all written and ready to submit, until I listened to Pink's "Trouble" and I conjured up this idea. Odd, yes, I know. But it was eating me up and I had to write it**

**Honestly, I've had this written up for awhile but I currently have an obsession with a new book series I started and this promptly had me up at three in the morning reading the first book so I could get the second that next day. Or later on that day. Whichever. Needless to say, I didn't have time to get my proofreading done when I had wanted to.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it and I can't wait to hear from you guys! **

**Your Author Who is Hungry,**

_**ShadowingPassion9532**_


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